Article in yesterdays WSJ quoted David Cutler, a Harvard health-care economist:
Obamacare may be “a story of three Americas.”
One group, the rich, can afford health care easily.
The poor can access public assistance.
But for lower middle- to middle-income Americans, “the income struggles and the health-care struggles together are a really potent issue.”
No kidding, Dr. Cutler …
HomaFiles was all over this one back in June:
Remember how healthcare costs were going to drop by $2,500 for every family?
We concluded that in 2016, employees will pay $11,000 out-of-pocket … up $2,500 since 2012.
“Employees” … you know the working class … the middle class.
Here’s our original post …. worth re-reading …. glad others are catching up to it.
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Milliman – a well-regarded actuarial consulting” firm – has published an annual recap of healthcare spending since 2001.
The Milliman Medical Index tracks the total costs of providing health care to an average family of four covered by an employer-sponsored “preferred provider plan” … that’s about 155 million employees and their dependents.
The total includes the health insurance premiums paid by both the employer and the employee, as well as the actual expenditures for health care paid by the insurance plan and out of pocket by the insured family.
The big news: In 2016, the average healthcare costs for a family of 4 surpassed $25,000 for the first time … the $25,826 is triple the cost to provide health care for the same family in 2001 … and up about $5,000 since 2012.
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The bad(est) news is the increased proportion of the healthcare costs being shouldered by individual employees …
The Homa Files 