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Health Care in America: The Crisis at a Glance

Quality health care that once seemed reliable is quickly being priced out of reach for millions of hardworking, taxpaying Americans. Here are the facts.

 Health Care Costs Are Skyrocketing
Health care cost increases are easily outpacing wages, making it difficult for small businesses to provide basic coverage, and corporations are shifting the growing burden directly to their employees, leaving many Americans without affordable coverage.

 In the last year, wages have increased 4 percent, while insurance premiums
   increased 15 percent.

 By 2006, the cost of a family premium is expected to reach $14,500 a year.

 Nearly 44 Million Americans Have No Health Care
That's 2.4 million more uninsured this year than last year and the largest single jump in the number of uninsured in the past decade.

 Every minute, nearly 5 people lose their health insurance in the U.S.

 More than 74 million people went without coverage for part of the last two
   years. This equates  to every man, woman and child in California, Texas, and
   New York.

 74 percent of those without insurance come from working families.

 8.5 million children in America have no health care.

 It's Not Just a Problem for the Low-Income and Unemployed
With costs soaring and coverage dropping, no one is immune. Millions of middle-class Americans now share the same fears of low-wage workers who can't afford to pay their health premiums.

 Close to 1 million of those who lost their health insurance this year work
    full-time.

 The number of people earning more than $75,000 a year who lost their
   insurance increased by 28 percent in the last year.

 Small Businesses and the Self-Employed Can't Afford Health Care
Over 25 million Americans are small business owners who are unable to purchase insurance as cheaply as large corporations. Rising health costs are making it increasingly difficult for these owners and the self-employed to afford basic health coverage for their employees and their families.

 Less than half of small businesses offer health insurance.

 Workers in small firms are three times as likely to be uninsured as workers in large firms.

 The Crisis Affects Everyone
The scope of the health care crisis is reaching record proportions and touches the lives of Americans from all backgrounds, regardless of race, ethnicity, income, education, employment, or age.

 32 percent of Hispanics living in the U.S. are uninsured. Ten of the 13 million
   uninsured Hispanics are in working families.

 20 percent of black Americans and 18 percent of Asians are uninsured,
   compared with 11 percent of whites.

 The number of people with college degrees who lost their insurance increased
   by 29 percent last  year.

 13 percent of people aged 55-64, or 5.2 million people, were uninsured in 2000.

 One in 10 married women aged 50-64 lose coverage when their husbands retire
   at 65.

To request more information or to be involved on this critical issue, please call Doctors Council at telephone number 212-532-7690.