Originally published June 11 2005
High cost of health insurance could force half of Californians to be uninsured by 2010, study says
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A new study by researchers at UC-Berkeley found that if job-based health insurance costs keep rising at current rates, by 2010 more than half of Californians will be uninsured. The study found that workers paid lower wages will be hit the hardest, with 1.2 million people forced into the ranks of the uninsured and 400,000 people forced into taxpayer-funded insurance programs like MediCal and Healthy Families by 2010. Researchers say employers can no longer afford to provide complete or partial coverage because of skyrocketing hospital and technology costs.
Barely half of working Californians will have job-based health insurance in 2010 if rates keep rising at current levels, according to a study released Wednesday by UC Berkeley researchers.
Employer-paid coverage will drop to 53 percent of the state's working adult population in 2010 from 58 percent in 2004 if premiums continue to rise by 10 percent a year, researchers reported in the study, which was conducted by UC Berkeley's Center for Labor Research and Education and Working Partnerships USA.
The report found lower-paid workers will be hit hardest, pushing an estimated 1.2 million Californians into the ranks of the uninsured and an additional 400,000 into taxpayer-supported programs such as Medi-Cal and Healthy Families by 2010.
As health premiums have soared in recent years, a growing number of employers have pushed more of those costs onto their workers in the form of higher copayments and deductibles along with less-comprehensive coverage.
"For middle-income and low-wage workers, job-based coverage is increasing becoming completely unavailable," said Bob Brownstein, policy director for Working Partnerships, a nonprofit labor research group.
By 2010, more people above 300 percent of the federal poverty level will be uninsured than have employer-sponsored coverage, the report found.
The report doesn't paint an exaggerated sky-is-falling scenario, said Tim Biddle, senior vice president in the San Francisco office of the Segal Co., an employee-benefit and actuarial consulting firm.
Becca Rufer, 23, said she was offered health insurance by her employer, a high-end restaurant in San Francisco.
While she said many restaurants don't provide any coverage at all, her employer would only cover half her premium costs.
Rufer, who also has to juggle student loan payments along with her living expenses, said the coverage would cost her at least $150 a month.
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml