Health Insurance Premiums in Virginia Up 82 Percent
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February 25, 2009
Richmond - The price of health insurance for Virginians has been heading sky-high, exposing what advocates for high-quality, affordable health care call the current crisis in that area. A new report by the group Health Care for America Now shows that health insurance premiums in Virginia increased by 82 percent from 2000 to 2007, while over that same period, median yearly wages increased by only 20 percent. The report says that if insurance costs continue to rise at this rate, in another seven years, families in Virginia will pay an average yearly premium of more than $24,000 for health insurance.
Reverend C. Douglas Smith, executive director of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, says that the current federal stimulus package will only help in the short term.
"We need big ideas and we need big change. Generally speaking, for the long term, the United States has got to go to a more universal system that leaves no one behind."
Smith says that despite the country's economic woes, politicians cannot ignore skyrocketing health insurance costs.
"We need elected officials to tackle health care, because health care is tackling individuals every day. The cost of health care has grown so rapidly and disproportionately to wages of workers that families simply are having a difficult time making it day in and day out."
Smith says that businesses, individuals, and elected officials need to work together to fix the crisis.
Those opposed to increased government involvement in health care say the economy cannot withstand the expense, but those supporting the measure say that the jobs created through expanding health care coverage will become a major asset to the economy.
Today, the U.S. Senate is to hear testimony on health care from the Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan agency that provides economic analysis to Congress.
For more information, see www.healthcareforamericanow.org