Middle Class Families Being Buried by Health Costs They Don’t Even See
A study just published in The New England Journal of Medicine illustrates how growing health care costs, added to stagnant wages, are making middle class Americans poorer and poorer. The most affluent households, the study finds, will be able to absorb the steady growth in health care costs. Middle income families, however, are starting to see their standards of living erode.
Most people aren’t aware of that this is taking place, however, because they aren’t paying the medical bills themselves. Instead, they are getting lower wages because their employer is paying more for their health insurance. They may also be paying higher taxes, and getting less overall services for those taxes, to pay for Medicare and Medicaid.
The graph and table below tell the story. The authors (Polsky and Grande) conclude “Our analysis underscores the need to take decisive action to slow this growth if we are to realize the goal of affordable health care for all Americans.”
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