Sunday, September 25, 2005
Editorial: The uninsured won't stay hidden
The need for a universal health plan grows stronger with each policy cancellation by employers.
From the RoundTable blog
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Now that premiums to provide family health insurance are running higher than a minimum-wage worker earns in a year, Congress must find the political will to tackle universal health care.
Small businesses faced with the choice of staying competitive or offering health care benefits are increasingly dropping health plans.
Those workers and their families are turning to Medicaid and placing further demands on programs that, pre-Hurricane Katrina, Congress had targeted for dramatic cuts. Not wanting to appear insensitive to the plight of the poor, Congress temporarily suspended plans to gut Medicaid.
During this lull, while the poor and blue-collar class struggles remain visible, Congress should look at this country's shameful embarrassment: a system that discriminates against the growing number of Americans who can't afford health care.
A report from the U.S. Census Bureau that went widely ignored last month found that fewer businesses in 2004 offered health insurance to employees, yet the ranks of the uninsured held steady due to a growing reliance on government plans such as Medicaid.
A report released last week by the Kaiser Family Foundation confirms the dismal trend. Two years ago, 66 percent of U.S. companies offered health insurance; today, just 60 percent do. The cuts have come from small businesses with fewer than 200 people that can't afford the benefit and remain competitive. Even passing more of the costs on to workers hasn't helped. When average annual premiums for family coverage run $10,880 -- more than a full-time minimum-wage earner grosses in a year's time -- small businesses are priced out of the market.
Even if they do continue to offer plans, workers find it increasingly difficult to manage co-pays, as the average worker contributes $2,713 a year, nearly twice the amount deducted in 2000.
Virginia is expanding its program to subsidize family premiums so poorer parents can afford private insurance through their employers and lessen the number of children served under its Medicaid plan. While laudable, the help is meaningless if small businesses continue to be squeezed out of the market.
The state can't solve a national crisis. Only Congress can.
