A friend bubbled over with joy as she told me the news that she and her husband were starting a small business. But she qualified it with, “Of course, we have to figure out the health insurance.” Of course.
They have a sixteen-month-old baby boy, and they’d like to keep their current pediatrician. Once they begin a small business, they might not be able to keep this pediatrician—and they’re liable to see their health care costs go up. She worries about drug costs, too. Last year their baby came down with a mysterious cough that required some heavy-duty antibiotics. But they’re one of the lucky families in America: they may be struggling with the high cost of health insurance, but they have it.
Although poverty has gone down slightly: in 2006 it was 12.3 percent, down from 12.6 percent in 2005, median incomes have not been rising and since 2000, the median household income is $1,000 less (U.S. Census Bureau). Combine this with a lack of health insurance and the picture becomes pretty grim. Today close to 47 million Americans don’t have health insurance at all.
And the numbers of uninsured Americans simply keeps rising: in 2005, the number of uninsured Americans was 44.8 million and rose to 47 million in 2006, according to a recent New York Times article. More employers are not providing insurance or cutting back due to high costs. Workers who can’t afford it are going without it altogether. For those who don’t have it, emergency rooms are used instead, which tend to be even more costly than going to a general practitioner. Another friend of mine was out of work and lacked health insurance. When she went in for a simple—though absolutely necessary—surgical procedure, she wound up with a huge bill. It took her three years to pay off the debt on her credit card.
The numbers of uninsured children have grown, too, to 8.6 million, under the current administration, which has tightened its control over funding for low-income groups. This came at the same time that employers have lessened their coverage for dependents.
