The Health Care Crunch

• Read the PBS report, Introduction to Sick Around the World.
• View the presentation, Health Care in 2009.
• Families USA: Wrong Direction: One Out of Three Americans Are Uninsured
  This September 2007 report says that 89.7 million Americans under age 65 were uninsured for some or all of the past two years.
  
  
• Kaiser Family Foundation shows the amount spent by employers on group health insurance policies grew more than twenty-fold from 1960-2006.
  
  
• The Commonwealth Fund: Whither Employer-Based Health Insurance? The Current and Future Role of U.S. Companies in the Provision and Financing of Health Insurance
  This September 2007 issue brief examines the central importance of employer coverage in our health system.
  
  
• Economic Policy Institute (EPI): Fewer College Graduates Have Health Coverage
  This EPI snapshot from July 2007 shows that employer-provided health care is declining for college graduates in entry-level jobs.
  
  
• The Journal of the American Medical Association: "The Poor Have Poor Health"
  According to this article, those at the bottom of the socioeconomic scale have worse health than those above them in the social hierarchy.
  
  
• Cover the Uninsured: Protecting America's Future: A State-by-State Look at SCHIP & Uninsured Kids
  Released in August 2007, this report concluded that 6 million children were at risk of losing health insurance unless Congress took action to protect the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
  
  
• Institute of Medicine: Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care
  This landmark study confirmed that non-whites have less health coverage and receive substandard care.
  
  
• Families USA: Paying a Premium: The Added Cost of Care for the Uninsured
  This report quantifies the dollar impact on private health insurance premiums of care provided to the uninsured. Includes data for each state.

Possible Solutions

• Read the press release from Health Care for America Now, Public Rejects Insurance Industry's Misleading Claims New Poll Shows.
• Read the press release from Progressive States, Amidst Budget Woes, New Study Points to Savings From Comprehensive Health Care Reform.
• Read the report from Health Care for America Now, 2009 Is The Year America Can Achieve Quality, Affordable Health Care We All Can Count On.
  
• Read a summary of the report by Rep. Dave Obey (D-Wisc.), Summary: American Recovery and Reinvestment.
• Read the Kaiser Family Foundation report, Approaches to Covering The Uninsured: A Guide.
• Alliance for Retired Americans: Find out more about Medicare and learn how you can take action.
  
  
• Cost impact analysis for the "Health Care for America" proposal, prepared by the Lewin Group for the Economic Policy Institute.
  
  
• Agenda for Shared Prosperity: Health Care for America
  This EPI briefing paper proposes universal health care building on Medicare and employer-based health insurance.
  
  
• Families USA: Confronting Disparities While Reforming Health Care: A Look at Massachusetts
  This report examines Massachusetts’ 2006 universal health care initiative.
  
  
• Progressive States Network: Eliminating Health Disparities
  An overview of the problem of health disparities and what some states are doing about it.

Consumer Information

It’s tough to know where to turn for health information. These links will help you get information on health and wellness, choosing a doctor and more.