Bush Misses The Point On Health Care

August 22, 2006

President Bush will speak in Minnesota on the transparency of the health care system. What he won't talk about is his failure to address the health care crisis in America the fact that health care costs have gone through the roof, or that one in seven Americans lacks health insurance. He also won't talk about why the Republican rubber stamp Congress allowed lobbyists and special interests to write the Medicare prescription drug law which gave a slush fund to the pharmaceutical companies, and prevents the federal government from negotiating cheaper drug prices for seniors, which would actually bring down out of control costs. Focusing on health care transparency does nothing to address these problems and merely reminds the American people just how much health care costs have increased under his watch.

"Instead of helping the one in seven Americans without health insurance or reducing the cost of health care for employers and employees, President Bush's top priority is making health care more 'transparent.' The only thing that is transparent is his attempt to distract the American people from just how much health care costs have gone up under his watch," said Democratic National Committee Press Secretary Stacie Paxton. "This sort of smokescreen is just another attempt to hide Republicans' record of failure heading into the November election and further undermines their credibility with the American people. Democrats remain committed to making health care affordable and accessible to all Americans."

Health Care Costs Continue To Rise
Employer-Sponsored Health Coverage Premiums Have Risen 73% Since 2000. Since 2000, employer-sponsored health coverage premiums have increased by 73%, outpacing overall inflation and increases in worker's wages. [Health Affairs, September, 2005 - October, 2005]

  • Health Care Costs Already Exceed Annual Minimum-Wage Earnings and Will Continue to Rise. The average cost for family coverage is $907 a month, or $10,880 a year. Thus, the average cost of family coverage now exceeds annual earnings for a minimum-wage earner who is employed throughout the year ($10,712). In 2006, these families will face further strain if health care premiums rise nearly 12% as expected. [Health Affairs, September, 2005 - October, 2005; Chicago Tribune, 10/9/05]

  • Number of Small Business Employers Offering Health Care Coverage is Dropping. The number of employers offering health care coverage dropped from 52% in 2004 to 47% in 2005 for small firms (3-9 workers). Three-fourths of these firms report that high premiums weighed predominantly in their decisions not to offer benefits. [Health Affairs, September, 2005 - October, 2005]

  • Health Care Costs Reached $1.7 Trillion in 2003. Expenditures in the United States on health care were nearly $1.7 trillion in 2003, almost 2 and a half times the $696 billion spent in 1990, and almost 7 times the $246 billion spent in 1980. [Kaiser Family Foundation, Background Brief available at www.kaiseredu.org]

Prescription Drug Prices Skyrocketing. "Retail prescription prices (which reflect both manufacturer price changes for existing drugs and changes in use to newer, higher-priced drugs) increased an average of 8.3% a year from 1994 to 2005 (from an average of $28.67 to $64.86) because of the cost." [KFF, 6/06]

One In Seven Americans Lack Health Insurance
Nearly 46 Million Americans Are Uninsured-Increasing for the Fourth Year in a Row. The number of Americans lacking health insurance increased by 800,000 last year-and by 6 million since Bush took office in 2001. Today, a total of 45.8 million people are uninsured-roughly one in seven Americans. [U.S. Census Bureau, 8/30/05; Table HI-4]

  • The Number of Uninsured Is Equal to the Combined Populations of 24 States. In order to provide some perspective on the sheer magnitude of the problem of the uninsured, the number of Americans who are denied health insurance is equal to the combined populations of 24 states: Oklahoma, Connecticut, Iowa, Mississippi, Kansas, Arkansas, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, West Virginia, Nebraska, Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Montana, Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, and Wyoming. [Matt Miller, The Two Percent Solution, 2003]

Fewer Than 60 Percent of Employers Offer Health Insurance. Employer-based health insurance, which covers the majority of Americans, has eroded under the Bush Administration. The percentage of Americans covered by employer-based insurance decreased to 59.8 percent in 2004, down from 60.4 percent last year. The total number of Americans with employer-sponsored coverage has fallen by more than 3.6 million since 2000. [U.S. Census Bureau, 8/30/05; Table HI-4]

African Americans And Latinos Suffered a Greater Increase in the Ranks of the Uninsured than the Rest of the Nation. African Americans and Hispanics have a significantly higher rate of uninsurance than the rest of the population. [U.S. Census Bureau, 8/30/05; page 17]

  • Latinos: In 2004, 13.7 million Latinos were without health insurance, an increase of 1.8 million since 2000. [U.S. Census Bureau, 8/30/05; Table C-1]

  • African Americans: In 2004, the number of African Americans without health insurance remained at about 7.4 million. This is an increase of almost 770,000 people since 2000. [U.S. Census Bureau, 8/30/05; Table C-1 ]