The High Cost of Health Care
As the cost of living skyrockets, so does the price consumers pay for insurance and health care and that that’s a big problem, says SPH professor Roger Feldman.
Today’s rates are not only far greater than there were during the lean financial times of the 70’s and early 80’s, they’ve increased at a rate that is greater than general inflation.
Feldman makes his point by referring to the average cost of a health care plan for a single U of M employee in 1980. Then, a person paid less than $40 a month, he says.
“Now the cheapest plan available to me costs $470 a month. That’s more than a 10-fold increase in more than 28 years," he said.
He adds that the cost of medial care, including doctor’s visits and hospitalizations that uninsured people might pay for out of pocket, has increased more than inflation has since 1980.
"If we think of the prices of all goods and services going up three times since 1980, the price of medical care services going up five times, and the price of insurance premiums up 10 times, I think now we have some really good comparisons," Feldman says.
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