Health Care Costs Not a Difficult Problem for Most Americans
Silicon Valley Biz Ink
(PRNewswire)
March 10, 2004
Health Care Costs Not a Difficult Problem for Most Americans
Majorities of the U.S. public say they know what their health care premiums, doctor visits, prescription drugs and deductibles cost while far fewer say they do not, according to the results of a recent new Harris Interactive poll conducted for The Wall Street Journal Online’s Health Industry Edition.
Overall, few found paying for health care difficult… Humphrey Taylor, chairman of The Harris Poll at Harris Interactive:
“The good news is that most people do not find it difficult to pay their insurance premiums or out-of-pocket costs. The bad news is that those who find it very difficult — up to 20 million adults — include many sick, low-income people who really need the care.”
Comment: Although most Americans are concerned about the future affordability of health care, they are not yet having difficulties meeting the costs. The large majority, at any given point in time, are relatively healthy and have only modest or negligible health care costs.
Although many will develop significant medical problems and move into the minority sector with higher care costs, younger, healthier individuals will replace them, ensuring that the healthy will always remain a significant majority. As long as the financial exposure remains quite tolerable, this large, healthy majority may never become a potent force in the health care reform movement.
Will we ever have enough solidarity to support reform that would ensure affordable access to health care for the minority who do have significant
health care needs?
Maybe we are moving in another direction and instead developing solidarity on the contemporary modification of Russell Long’s famous quotation: “Don’t tax you, don’t tax me, don’t even tax that rich fellow behind the tree.”