Report: Health Care Costs Skyrocketing in W.Va.
Read the Report Here:
http://www.wvcag.org/issues/he...
Charleston, W.Va. - The skyrocketing cost of health insurance is increasingly putting health care out of reach of working families and businesses in West Virginia according to a new report released today by West Virginia Citizen Action Group (WV-CAG). WV-CAG is part of Health Care for America Now (HCAN) - the nation's largest health care campaign.
Health insurance premiums for West Virginia working families have gone up 75 percent between 2000 and 2007. In dollars, that means the cost of family health coverage in W.Va. has increased from $6,844 to $11,970, and workers in W.Va. are not making enough money to keep up. From 2000 to 2007, health insurance premiums rose 4 times faster than wages. In addition:
· The full cost of employer-sponsored insurance in W.Va. equals 30 percent of the median family income. Without meaningful health reform, that number will grow to 53 percent in 2016.
· The full cost of employer-sponsored health insurance in W.Va. is projected to grow at an annual rate of 8.5 percent, compared to a 1.8 percent annual increase in income.
· About 140,000 working non-elderly adults in W.Va. do not have health insurance. That comprises 61 percent of the total non-elderly uninsured population.
· A recent report estimated that 62 percent of bankruptcies were directly related to medical bills; in W.Va. there were 5,133 non-business bankruptcies in 2008.
"This report shows the failure of market-based health coverage and the absolute need for a Public Health Insurance option as outlined in Senator Rockefeller's Consumer's Health Care Act he recently introduced in the Senate," commented Gary Zuckett, Executive Director of WV Citizen Action, "Consumers need a choice when the private for-profit market fails them."
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Sam Hickman, CEO of West Virginia's chapter of the National Association of Social Workers thinks the current status of health care puts a damper on the image of the U.S. as being an innovator in opportunity and achievement.
"Helplessness is seeing your health insurance costs rise four times faster than your wages. Hopelessness is having no health insurance and a sudden illness or chronic condition that drives your family into medical bankruptcy."
"The problem is vast. Not only do we have nearly a quarter of a million West Virginians without insurance, but many more with some kind of coverage find it increasingly unaffordable as premiums and co-pays skyrocket," said Rick Wilson, area director for the WV Economic Justice Project.
Health care coverage has become a major issue in labor contracts.
"As we see continuing escalation of health care cost and find our coverage reduced at the same time, the only solution is a public health care plan that will reduce cost and provide coverage to those Americans with pre-existing conditions now," stated Larry Matheney, Secretary-Treasurer of the WV-AFL-CIO.
In 2007, 249,384 people were uninsured in W.Va. According to a 2008 study by Families USA, one in four West Virginians die due to lack of health care coverage.
www.HealthCareforAmericaNow.org is a national coalition of more than 1,000 organizations pushing for quality, affordable health care for all regardless of pre-existing medical conditions. The organization is also pushing for the creation of a public health insurance option.
For more information, please contact Gary Zuckett at (304) 346-5891 or garyz@wvcag.org.
