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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (236490)	6/9/2005 11:04:12 AM
From: Skywatcher	Respond to of 1570809

something Bush can't fathom...all he cares about it giving our social security to WALL STREET Health Coverage Costs Rise Due to Uninsured, US Study Says Bloomberg Wednesday 08 June 2005 American families with employer-sponsored health insurance will pay an average of $922 in added premiums this year because of costs doctors and hospitals incur in treating patients who don't have insurance, according to a report today by consumer advocacy group Families USA. The extra cost, about $1 out of every $12 spent on health insurance premiums, will rise to an average of $1,502 within five years, the report said. Kenneth Thorpe, the Emory University economist who estimated the price tag of Massachusetts Democratic Senator John Kerry's $653 billion health-care proposal during last year's presidential elections, wrote the report for Families USA. About 45 million Americans lacked health-care coverage in 2003, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Washington-based Families USA said people without insurance pay about a third of their health-care costs, leaving doctors and hospitals this year with more than $43 billion in unpaid bills. Health providers raise prices to other patients to make up the difference, according to the report. "The large and increasing number of uninsured Americans is no longer simply an altruistic concern on behalf of those without health coverage but a matter of self-interest for everyone," said Families USA Executive Director Ron Pollack in a statement. Thorpe based the report on data from government agencies including the Census Bureau, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the National Center for Health Statistics. The report is the first to calculate the cost of uninsured patients for those who have coverage, Families USA said. High-Cost States Insured families in six states - New Mexico, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Montana, Texas and Arkansas - will pay more than $1,500 in additional premiums this year to cover the costs of patients who lack medical insurance, the report found. By 2010, the list will include five more states: Florida, Alaska, Idaho, Washington and Arizona. "These extra costs place unacceptable burdens on all families, as well as our small businesses and our medical providers," said Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, in a statement. Kansas families will pay an additional $729 in premiums to cover the costs of the uninsured, the report found. "We must find affordable ways to cover more workers and their families," Sebelius said. "States must work with the federal government to make such coverage a reality." -------