A recent study released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (and reported by the National Nurses Organizing Committee) reports that the group of people paying for most of America's current health insurance troubles are the group most likely to not have health insurance, themselves.
The study found that while nearly all retirees and almost 90 percent of children have health insurance, about 1 in 5 workers is uninsured. This is a significant jump from the mid-1990s when 1 in 7 workers was uninsured. A reported 20.7 million workers were uninsured in the mid-1990s. This figure rose to 26.9 million a mere decade later. There are currently 14 states with at least 20 percent of the working-age population uninsured: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina and Texas.
The study blames the acceleration of cost. Premiums for employer plans have risen 6 to 8 times faster than wages. Lynn Blewett, director of the State Health Access Data Assistance Center at the University of Minnesota, remarked at the rising trend of workers being uninsured. "In the last couple of years we've seen a deterioration of private health insurance," she noted.
The big picture is that workers pay for the healthcare of others through taxes that support Medicare, and other programs that provide healthcare to the poor, and children from low-income families. Meanwhile, little assistance is given to help cover the workers themselves.
The U.S. healthcare system is the world's costliest and is acknowledged as one of the most wasteful. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation urges the Obama administration to overhaul healthcare. "I don't think we can delay action beyond this year," said Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, adding, "It's clear that we are at the brink."
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