Ever since the collapse of the US economy in late 2008 and the onset of the resulting recession, the typical way of life has been greatly affected in many ways for most working Americans, and with it the way they look at their employers and the benefits they offer. Job security and the economic expectations that go with it appear to be things of the past, at least for the moment, as many corporations and small businesses alike scramble to streamline and cut costs in an effort to stay afloat.
One common cost-cutting target in the business sector has been in the area of employee health care, a job perk which at one time may have been taken for granted by many workers, particularly those in the middle class. Health care benefits have been on the chopping block recently, with some companies opting to offer only less expensive health savings accounts to employees, and others going even further and having to do away with these benefits entirely. Health insurance quote sticker shock has prevented both employers and families from renewing long-held policies, leading to 45 million non-elderly uninsured Americans as of 2008.
Health care costs have continued to rise, even with the stagnation of business profits and employee wages. According to the US Census Bureau, health insurance premiums have become much less affordable for middle-class workers in particular, as premium increases have far outstripped any rises in employee wages or corporate earnings. According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the amount people pay for health insurance increased by an average of 30 percent between the years 2001 and 2005, while wages only went up by an average of 3 percent for that same period. The problem has persisted in recent years, with wages flat or declining, unemployment rising and health care costs continuing to climb.
Many companies have been forced to reduce or completely eliminate health care benefits as a part of their employee compensation plans, and as a result, many workers have been forced to go without any type of insurance at all. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation (kff.org) health tracking poll, over a quarter of the country’s non-elderly uninsured are of the middle class. What’s more, as medical bills keep piling up, many Americans have been forced to make tough choices, with over 50 percent of all bankruptcies due to medical bills according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Even so, not all the news is negative, with the Census Bureau reporting a drop in its latest statistics in the overall percentage of Americans without health insurance. According to the Census Bureau, around 202 million people were covered by private health care plans as of 2007, a number which has remained fairly steady in recent years, meaning much is at stake surrounding the current debate over health care reform. Those who still have medical insurance coverage provided by their employers are quite often highly concerned that they could lose their coverage at any time, and many among the uninsured wonder when the right time will be to get that next health insurance quote. Read the rest of this entry »
