Health Insurance Premium Outpaced State Earnings

Health insurance premiums for Oklahomans have increased 62 percent over the last eight years, a rise 3.3 times larger than the increase of their earnings, according to a report by Families USA.
“In addition to higher premiums, working families faced higher out-of-pocket health care costs, such as deductibles, copayments, and costs for services that were not covered by their insurance plans,” according to the report. “As a result, health care costs are absorbing an ever-larger portion of family budgets, and it is clear why many Oklahoma families feel worse off economically than they did eight years ago.”

Click here to view the report, which is based on information collected by the U.S. Census Bureau, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Health and Human Services.

The report points out the Oklahoma’s average annual family health insurance premium, paid by employers and employees, went from $6,937 to $11,238, a staggering increase of $4,301.

This is pretty much the story across the country during the last eight years. It’s not surprising the staggering increase came under President George Bush’s administration. Bush and the GOP have done nothing to alleviate the health care crisis in the country. National election polls currently show the GOP will pay a heavy price in the November 4 election for their obvious lack of concern for middle-class families.

Presidential contender Barack Obama has an excellent health care plan that, if passed, would drive down premiums and costs. There is no assurance his plan would pass as proposed, of course, but at least it shifts the current focus from guaranteeing big health insurance companies make money to helping working families obtain adequate and affordable health care. This philosophical change alone will help the vast majority of Oklahomans.

But even as middle-class Oklahoma families struggle to afford health care, it can be easy to forget that those further down the economic ladder, the working poor, face enormous problems accessing health care here.

The Oklahoma Policy Institute, which advocates for Oklahoma’s poor, recently send out an email asking people to help support their efforts to “make Oklahoma a more prosperous, better educated, healthier and more equitable state.” The organization also conducts the best studies related to government policies in the state.

OK Policy asks, “Are you content that one-fifth of Oklahoma's families with children live below the poverty level of $20,650 per year for a family of four? Are you content that only 26 percent of Oklahoma's eighth grade students test as proficient in reading and 33 percent as proficient in math? We suspect you are not, and neither are we.

Right now, according to OK Policy, Kerr Foundation Inc. will match every dollar you donate up to $500. This is an extremely generous offer. Click here to donate.