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The Causes
The Causes
Employers who do not provide adequate coverage for their workers are one of the primary causes of the health care crisis. No-benefit employers shift health care costs to other employers or to taxpayers—driving up costs for everyone else and forcing other employers to cut or reduce coverage.
- Costs get passed on to taxpayers when working families without health insurance get sick and wind up in emergency rooms or public facilities. Emergency room care is the most expensive----particularly for routine medical conditions like colds and the flu. That strains resources at health care facilities, and leads to lower quality care for all of us.
- Costs get passed on to responsible businesses that provide affordable family coverage when workers get coverage under their spouse’s more affordable plan. These uneven rates of coverage have placed employers who provide affordable family health care at a competitive disadvantage. In order to stay competitive these employers scale back services or raise rates.
- Costs get passed onto workers when employers refuse to cover their employees or companies raise rates. Some employers like to say that they offer health insurance. The more accurate statement is that they sell health insurance to workers. Family health care costs have increased more than 100% in the past decade. For low wage workers, costs have gone up 55% faster than the costs that corporate executives and management have to pay. Workers are forced to shoulder an unsustainable burden of health care costs. From this, more employees drop coverage and delay medical treatment until a crisis emerges, causing even greater expenses for emergency treatment. The cycle continues until the system crashes.
Next: The Problem with Wal-Mart
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