A new report from the Institute of Medicine finds that more US residents will lose their health insurance as the economy continues to weaken and health care costs continue to rise. Many companies have begun to replace full-time positions with part-time, contract and temporary positions that do not include health insurance. The report also found that increased health insurance premiums have prompted more employees to seek out alternative options outside of plans offered by companies. According to the report, the average annual employee premium contribution for family health insurance coverage increased from $1,543 to $3,354 between 1999 and 2008.
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Tags: economy, Health Care, Health Insurance, premiums, recession
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Dr. Steven Chang, the author of DailyDose, is a staff physician with Kosmix RightHealth. Dr. Chang practices Family Medicine at the University of California Davis Medical Center, where his medical interests include both pediatric and geriatric care, public health, gay and lesbian health, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chang trained at the Stanford University affiliated O'Connor Hospital, and was a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He holds an M.D. from McGill University and a BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.
February 26th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Paid a bundle for health insurance at work, Paid 75% of and boss paid 25%. Then he didn’t. Then he cut my pay 25%.Insurance was costing me more and more and salary getting smaller but insurance necessary as I am sole support. Finally lost my job after 10 years.Corba too expensive.No insurance now and no way to pay for medication I need. Make too much for all programs to assist me with insurance.Own my home for now so most assistance I do not qualify for. Just waiting to stroke out between no meds for hi blood pressure and just pressure in general. Sometimes dr. has samples.Sometimes. Was I take every other day instead of daily but ran out. Sure MANY people in same boat.Better off being stone broke