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For
Immediate Release
March 15,
2010 | |
Communications
Coordinator
1-800-838-0388
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Cost of Not Fixing
Our Health Care System
Statement of
Consumers for Affordable Health Care Executive Director,
Joe Ditré
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"It comes as no
surprise to Consumers for Affordable Health Care
(CAHC) to hear that our health care system is broken
and heading toward an even worse future, but a new
report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
(RWJF) gives us a peek into just how bad things
could get in the next five and ten years if we
continue to go down the path we are on. This
report is very timely, since we are just beginning to
observe 'Cover the Uninsured
Week.' The analysis, conducted by the
Urban Institute, shows that the moderate income
families would suffer most without reform. The
uninsured rate for moderate income families
earning 200-399 percent of the federal poverty
level (FPL) - roughly $40,000-$75,000 a year - would
rise by nine percentage points (going from 19
percent to 28 percent) over the next ten years.
Overall, the share of the uninsured from all families
with incomes higher than about $40,000 would rise from
44 percent to 53 percent by
2020.
For employers who continued to
offer health insurance benefits, an increasing amount of
the costs would likely be passed on to workers. At the
same time, individuals and families would face higher
out-of-pocket costs for premiums and health care
services. Spending for families and individuals would
jump by 34 percent in 2015 and by 79 percent by
2020. Families in Maine can't afford
to see our health care costs rise by more than a third
in five short years. Already there are about
126,000 people in our state who lack health
coverage and do not get the care they need. These
individuals are forced to gamble every day that they
won't get sick or injured. Our businesses are also
struggling under the weight of ever increasing health
care costs.
Now more than ever, we must make
significant changes to our health care system to
decrease costs and ensure that all Americans have
quality, affordable care to keep our families healthy
and financially secure."
The new Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) report projects that if significant
reform efforts are not enacted, by 2015 there could be
as many as 59.7 million people uninsured nationwide -
and further estimates that the number could swell to
67.6 million by 2020 - with middle-income families
hardest hit. An estimated 49.4 million individuals were
without health coverage in 2010. The report, conducted
by researchers from the Urban Institute, was released
today as a part of Cover the Uninsured Week. For more
information, see www.covertheuninsured.org.
Cover the Uninsured Week 2010, the eighth
annual campaign to raise public awareness about the 46
million U.S. residents without health
insurance, is March
14-20. |
Consumers for Affordable Health Care
is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that has been
helping Maine people get quality, affordable health care
for more than 20 years.
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For more information or to schedule interviews
contact: Cherilee Budrick, Communications Coordinator
Consumers for Affordable Health
Care 207-622-7083 cbudrick@mainecahc.org
Consumers for Affordable
Health Care * P.O. Box 2490 *
Augusta, ME *
04330-2490 | |
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