From Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

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 Friends,

Every day we hear and see more reasons why we can’t afford to delay when it comes to health reform. Last week, I met with small business owners and employees who discussed the burden high costs place on workers and businesses and expressed their support for health reform.

The people I met with aren’t alone. Over the weekend new public polls showed that Americans overwhelmingly support health reform.

Now, it is important for all of us who care about reform to tell our friends, family and neighbors why we can’t wait for reform.

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is releasing a new report on www.HealthReform.gov further detailing the skyrocketing costs of health care.

The Hidden Cost of Health Care: Why Americans Are Paying More But Getting Less highlights rising cost of deductibles, co-payments and out-of-pocket expenses that are making it more difficult for families with insurance to receive the health care they need. 

The report notes:

• A person with employer-based coverage paid an average of $1,522 on health care (not including premiums) in 2006, compared with $1,260 in 2001.   When including the added burden of higher premiums, out-of-pocket costs rose even more sharply, with a 30 percent increase from an average of $2,827 in 2001 to $3,744 in 2006.
• For preferred provider organization (PPO) plans purchased through an employer, the average family deductible increased 30 percent in just two years, from $1,034 to $1,344.  This effect is more pronounced for small firms, where PPO deductibles increased from $1,439 to $2,367 — a rise of 64 percent.
• In 2004, only one in five people with health insurance through an employer had a co-payment of more than $25, but by 2008 the number jumped to one in three.
• Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have nearly doubled since 2000, a rate three times faster than wages. In 2008, the average premium for a family plan purchased through an employer was $12,680, nearly the annual earnings of a full-time minimum wage job. 

Millions of Americans don’t have insurance, and millions more are still struggling to afford the care they need. President Obama was right when he said that health reform “cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year.”

If you believe that the health care status quo is unacceptable, share this report with your friends and family. Then, encourage them to visitwww.HealthReform.gov and sign the Statement of Support for health reform legislation this year.

Together, we will make reform a reality.

Sincerely,

Kathleen Sebelius 
Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services