¶ … Healthcare: The Effects of Rising Costs on the Middle Class
The rising cost of healthcare and the effects on the middle class
Healthcare
Effects of Rising Costs on Middle Class
The purpose of this paper is to define the income and social levels of the middle class in the United States and to examine and determine the effects that the rising costs of healthcare have had on the middle class. Further this work will examine the hospital closures in the State of California in relation to the trending which appears to be lessening the availability of the individual in attaining care while at the same time increasing the costs and access to healthcare effectively barring many in the United States Middle Class from receiving proper care for their health.
Introduction:
Healthcare costs have inflated to the point that no longer can every individual feel that healthcare is available for them and their family because indeed it is most likely not unless they are one of the fortunate middle-class whose employer has either not laid them off, shut the branch where they were employed, or the company for which they work folded altogether. This is the case for many individuals who have been 'displaced' occupationally and for the first time in their life, a life that has been spent in working and paying bills and taxes. There is little compassion today in the world and indeed even within the United States for those who no longer have insurance. Hospitals and Clinics are gouging patients who are without the benefits of insurance charging up to double the amount that an insured's carrier would be charged for the same services. More and more business are finding it a strain if not a hurdle that cannot be cleared in providing insurance to the bare minimum skeletal staff of employers. Not only is the insurance hard for the companies themselves to afford but the out-of-pocket expenses are rising higher while the coverage provided by the insurance is sinking lower. When figuring premiums plus out-of-pocket expenses, it is likely that those with insurance are still struggling in an effort to hang on to the insurance in case they have a major catastrophe health-wise.
The number of working-age individuals has declined from 70% in 1987 to 60.4%
. In view of the rising costs in healthcare the fact that insurance coverage is decreasing for so many and at such a rapid rate questions come to mind as to what the administration of the United States is focused toward in view of agendas and outcomes for the American people.
A study performed by John Hopkins Listening Point project found that 1/3 of non-profit employers have "reduced employees' pay raises or bonuses and about 22% have initiated the elimination of positions recently filled by staff or have put a freeze on hiring. Furthermore the percentage of annual household incomes that is towards health care is now in excess of the amount that is currently applied toward federal taxes and double the amount of gasoline expenditures. American families are "spending more than one-fourth of their earning on healthcare which rose by 23% since the year 2000 from 11.6 million to 14.3 million.
Insurance premiums rose as well to the tune of 35.9% in comparison to earnings increases of only 12.4% and finally the number of individuals without insurance coverage rose from 1.4 million to the astronomical sum of 45 million individuals in the United States who do not have the benefit of insurance coverage.
I. The Middle-Class: Bearing the Brunt of the Healthcare crisis:
The healthcare crisis as well as the unbelievable costs associated maintaining a health insurance policy has resulted in 43.6 million individuals that were covered by insurance in 2001 losing or forfeiting their coverage due to the inability of either the individual or the individual's employer to pay for the healthcare insurance.
The national middle class household income is stated to be $42,049 while the average family healthcare insurance premium is the approximate amount of $9,066 a year. Households with incomes between $25,000 to %50,000 a year are among the 43 million individuals who are presently without insurance. Results, according to Viki Fox, project manager for the survey states that: "Being uninsured is becoming more of a middle-class problem. It's not just a problem for people who are poor or not working." Appleby-USA Today (2004) Future projections are that the average family will pay more than $14,000 for health insurance premiums by the year 2006.
Stated within a recent report on healthcare in the United States the following was stated:
'In 2002, health insurance premiums rose at a rate eight times faster than general inflation; experiencing...
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