Rising medical expenses

Friday, Aug. 22, 2008 | 2:06 a.m.

While the nation focuses on high gasoline prices and the housing foreclosure crisis, it would be unwise to forget that we are also saddled with health care costs that have spiraled out of control.

A survey released Wednesday by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation in New York City that focuses on health care research, showed that higher percentages of working-age adults were unable to afford medical care in 2007 than in previous years. The findings by the foundation, whose board members include the president of the Johns Hopkins University, show that this country is going in the wrong direction on the issue of affordable care.

One troubling statistic is that 41 percent of adults aged 19 to 64 had problems paying medical bills or accrued medical debt in 2007, up from 34 percent in 2005. The survey also found that in 2007 one-third of adults spent at least 10 percent of their income on health insurance and health care, up from 21 percent who did so in 2001.

Roughly 28 percent of adults, an estimated 50 million people, went without health insurance for at least a portion of 2007. That was also an increase from 2001, when the uninsured were 24 percent of adults, an estimated 38 million individuals.

As we approach the November general election, we encourage the presidential and congressional candidates to spend as much time as possible discussing their solutions to rising health care costs. Once they take office, it is imperative that this issue be placed high on their 2009 agenda.

There is a real danger that rising medical expenses, if left unchecked, will make our troubled economy even worse. We will be left with more Americans needlessly suffering from poor health. In extreme cases, many will even lose their homes because of financial duress and wind up on the streets. As Americans we should not stand idly by and allow this to happen.