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JULY 2004
Health costs a financial crisis for working families
by Rick S. Bender, President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO

There's a young woman working at a paint store in King County who suffered a serious kidney infection recently and despite a doctor's office visit and following his prescription, she ended up on a weekend in excruciating pain in a local hospital emergency room.

Of course, this young 21-year-old is working full time at a job with no health benefits. She's making just a little bit more than the minimum wage. Her emergency room bill came to $4,000.

She's one of thousands of Washington workers who face financial ruin when they have a health crisis.

A recent statewide report by the Working for Health Coalition measured the impact of soaring health-care costs through personal bankruptcy trends. The conclusion of the report is striking: Thousands of Washington families face personal bankruptcy because of huge health care bills. In fact over the last 12 years, the number of personal bankruptcies in the state has tripled, to almost 40,000 last year.

A decade ago, about 15 percent of bankruptcies were caused by medical debt. Today, that number has soared to nearly 50 percent!

The reasons are clear.  While wages have been flat for the past few years, health premiums have skyrocketed by double digits every year for the past three years.

Having health insurance is no guarantee of financial strength. Consider the case of former Olympia Mayor Dave Skramstad.

His wife became ill, it was diagnosed as cancer, and he cared for her at home. Their health insurance had limited benefits for home health care. Like many people, he began to pay his bills with a credit card. The interest compounded and so did his financial troubles. Mayor Skramstad's wife passed away and he was forced to file for bankruptcy, selling his home to settle his debts.

But even worse than under-insurance is no insurance at all. According to the report, nearly 320,000 working adults in our state have no health insurance.  It's a misconception to think of the uninsured as poor people. Most uninsured folks in our state work or are a member of a working family. It's just that the jobs they work at don't have affordable health benefits for themselves or their family.

Last year in Olympia, Rep. Eileen Cody, who chairs the House Health Care Committee, held hearings on a proposal that would have expanded the number of employees and employers with affordable health care.

Every year, more employers reduce or eliminate health care benefits and every year more and more workers face the prospect of financial ruin because they can't afford to pay the high cost of health care. Ignoring this issue won't wish it away. Creating a way for everyone who works to get decent, affordable health care should be a goal for our state and our nation.

Rick Bender is President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO,
the largest labor organization in the state.

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Copyright © 2004  Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO