Big Problems Ahead
As bad as the projections for Medicare and Medicaid are,
($36.3 and $16 trillion respectively), the
Congressional Budget Office is projecting that the
situation will be twice as bad ($52 trillion?) for
the rest of the health care system.
Realistically that won`t happen. Instead the number of
people covered by private health insurance will shrink
dramatically.
Since 2000 the percentage of the population covered by
employer-based health care plans has fallen by 5%. During
roughly the same time period (1999-2008), the cost
to employers and to individuals (co-pays and deductibles)
rose almost 120%.
Layoffs and cut backs by employers are likely to have dropped
that number another 2% or 3%.
The current stimulus plan includes $30 billion to extend Medicaid
to the unemployed as well as $87 billion to reduce the state`s
portion of current Medicaid expenditures. Together those
number total amount to almost 15% of the `stimulus` spending.
The chart below illustrates the falling percentage of the
population covered by private health insurance.
This graph gives the reason.
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