Under the Microscope

REPORT: Hidden Costs of Health Care: Why Americans are Paying MORE but Getting LESS
With each passing year, Americans are paying more for health care coverage. Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have nearly doubled since 2000, a rate three times faster than wages. In 2008, the average premium for a family plan purchased through an employer was $12,680, nearly the annual earnings of a full-time minimum wage job. Americans pay more than ever for health insurance, but get less coverage. [DHHS, 6/23/2009]

REPORT: Unaffordable: Health Insurance Coverage Keeps Shrinking As Premiums, Family Costs Continue Climbing
Skyrocketing premiums and out-of-pocket medical costs are battering family budgets, eroding U.S. competitiveness in the global economy and threatening the American standard of living. Health costs are increasing at an unsustainable rate, and the national economy will not thrive unless they are reined in. Health care reform that guarantees quality, affordable care for everyone in the United States can provide economic security for families and the nation.
[Health Care for America Now, 6/23/2009]

Read how Your State fares in health insurance affordability.

Health Care Headlines

• Obama Reverts to Campaign Motto for Health Care Agenda
  President Obama dusted off a campaign slogan on Monday, sharply dismissing those who have expressed skepticism that the nation’s health care system will be overhauled by Congress this year.
  [New York Times, 6/22/2009]
• Drug Discount May Win Support for Overhaul
  President Obama said Monday that drugmakers’ agreement to reduce drug prices for seniors is a “significant breakthrough” for lawmakers working on a health care overhaul. But the deal is probably more important to the politics of the issue than the policy. [CQ Today, 6/22/2009]
• For Drug Makers, Concessions Have a Bright Side
  The pharmaceutical industry's agreement to contribute $80 billion over 10 years to a proposed health-care overhaul could yield new business for drug makers, and provide them more certainty about how big a hit they'll take from government cost-cutting. [Wall Street Journal, 6/23/2009]
• Putting Teeth in Health Care Reform
  The 2007 death of a Prince George's County boy because of an untreated dental abscess was a tragic reminder of the connection between oral health and overall health. [Washington Post, 6/23/2009]
• States Fight Medicaid Expansion
  Some governors are pushing to scale back or kill proposals to expand Medicaid to provide health-care coverage to the uninsured, raising a new challenge to President Barack Obama's effort to overhaul the system. [Wall Street Journal, 6/23/2009]
• Advocates Help Patients Navigate Health Care Maze
  Jonathan Fine didn't intend to be a patient advocate. But when an 85-year-old friend wasn't getting what he needed, he couldn't just stand by. [NPR, 6/22/2009]
• Waiting Isn't ER Patients' Top Issue
  In what might be a counterintuitive take on crowded emergency rooms, patients say the time spent waiting is not their top concern, according to a customer satisfaction survey last year of 1.4 million patients.
  [USA Today, 6/22/2009] Read the GAO Report on ERs here.
• Senators Try to Keep Co-Op Hopes Alive
  Three key senators involved in health care talks Monday sought to downplay remarks from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) implying that negotiators were at an impasse resolving divisions over the inclusion of some form of a public insurance option. [Politico, 6/22/2009]
• Baucus-Dodd Friendship May Be Key to Healthcare
  Few senators know that Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) have had a quiet friendship over the years, but that relationship may prove pivotal for Democrats’ hopes of passing a health reform package. [The Hill, 6/22/2009]
• OPINION: Use Medicare to Hold Industry to Cost and Quality Promises
  By Marilyn Moon and Judy Feder
  On June 1, leaders of the health care industry reaffirmed their pledge to reform a health care system that is rife with inefficiencies, costs too much, and fails to deliver the quality of care Americans expect.
  [Kaiser Health News, 6/11/2009]
• OPINION: When Health Insurance Isn’t Health Insurance (Cont’d)
  By Karen Tumulty
  Paul Begala took note of our post the other day about some terribly tragic health insurance stories that had been told before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversights and investigations. And he pointed out something else. [Time, 6/22/2009]