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RALEIGH North Carolinians have seen their health insurance costs rise five times faster than their salaries over the last decade, according to a new report released Tuesday that is likely to add more fuel to the health care debate.
The report found that health care premiums in the state rose 96.8 percent from 2000 through 2009, while median individual earnings rose by 18.4 percent, according to the study by Families USA and by Action for Children North Carolina.
“Rising health care costs threaten the financial well-being of families in North Carolina and across the nation,” said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA. “If health care reform does not happen soon, more and more families will be priced out of the health coverage they used to take for granted.”
The study comes at time when there is intense national debate in Congress over President Obama's proposals to overhaul the health care system.
In recent days, supporters and opponents of health care changes have jammed town hall meetings on health care in Rocky Mount, Lillington and Durham.
Last Friday, 250 opponents picketed the Raleigh offices of Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan.
On Monday, two national groups began running a TV ad criticizing Republican Sen. Richard Burr for not backing the president's health care proposals.
“Why is Senator Burr taking the side of the insurance companies in the health care debate?” says the five-day $95,000 ad campaign sponsored by Health Care for America Now and the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees.
On Tuesday, Burr expressed skepticism about Obama administration suggestions that it might consider health care co-ops instead of a public option as part of a health care plan.
Burr said he is willing to entertain any good idea “as long as it covers all Americans, stresses wellness and prevention, and does not increase taxes or add to our national debt. However, if these co-ops are financed or run by the federal government, then they are no better than the public option and are just federally run health care under a different name.”
Meanwhile, the John Locke Foundation, a conservative Raleigh-based think tank, announced that it will hold a health care discussion at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Cary.
The new study charted how health care costs have risen in North Carolina between the years 2000 and 2009:
The average annual health insurance premium (for employer and worker) rose from $6,649 to $13,083 between 2000-2009 or about a 96.8 percent increase. During the same period, the median earnings of N.C. workers rose from $23,080 to $27,330 or 18.4 percent.
The employer's portion of the annual premium for a family's health coverage in North Carolina for that period rose from $4,867 to $8,714 or a 79 percent increase. The employer's portion for an individual's coverage rose from $2,195 to $3,864 or an increase of about 76 percent.
The worker's portion of the annual premium for a family's health coverage rose form $1,782 to $4,370 or a 145.2 percent increase. A worker's portion for individual health coverage rose from $475 to $877, or an increase of about 84.6 percent.
“For North Carolina, any absence of health care reform will mean that businesses have a harder time staying competitive, and more and more families will have to cope with stagnant wages and the loss of affordable health coverage,” said Barbara Bradley, president and CEO of Action for Children, a nonprofit that has advocated for early childhood programs such as Smart Start. Families USA is a 25-year-old health care advocacy organization.
