Digging Deeper For Health Care Bills, Even When Insured

A new survey of employers indicates that employees are beginning to bear a much larger burden in health care costs, in the form of rapidly rising deductibles. The findings, released yesterday by the Kaiser Family Foundation, showed that deductibles rose this year by an average of 29 percent, or $1,344, for families and 21 percent, or $560, for single workers.

Many employers said they increased deductibles in order to shoulder some of the costs of rising monthly premiums. In an interview with USA Today, Kaiser Family Foundation President Drew Altman suggests the numbers could, in fact, be "the tip of the iceberg toward less comprehensive, skimpier coverage."

Skyrocketing health care costs have left their mark on public attitudes about health care issues. Surveys show that cost and access to health care are considered to be the most "urgent" health problems, compared to a decade ago. Yet while there is some consensus among Americans that our health care system has major problems, responses tend to vary and waiver when it comes to potential tradeoffs and solutions.

For more on this subject, including the pros and cons of different approaches to health care reform, check out our Voter's Survival Kit.