Arizona Families Will Spend More Income on Health Care Costs In 2008
Today, Families USA released a report regarding the rising health care costs in Arizona and the number of uninsured.
The report notes that 1.4 million people under the age of 65, nearly 80 percent of which are insured, are in families that will spend more than 10 percent of their pre-tax family income on health care costs in 2008. That number has increased from 2000 by 662,000, a number greater than the population of Tucson.
Furthermore, there are 213,000 Arizonans in families that spent more than 25 percent of their pre-tax income on health care costs. That number has risen since 2000 by 217,000 (less than half the population of Tucson or three times the population of Yuma).
Upon the report’s release, Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva released the following statement.
“Many issues abound with regards to health care in this country, and one that has been forefront in the national discussion as of late has been the 47 million Americans who are uninsured. That number is devastating. Unfortunately, equally devastating are the numbers of people who are underinsured.
“Simply having health insurance no longer ensures quality access to quality healthcare. With health insurance premiums rising along with hospital and prescription drug costs, this trend will only continue and worsen.
“I would like to thank Families USA for this report. By highlighting exactly what is going on with health care costs for Arizona families, they underscore the necessity of health care reform. Currently Congress is working on reauthorizing the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and fixing the scheduled cuts to physicians in Medicare. Both of these efforts are being blocked by the president and Republican members of the House and Senate.
“Arizona is not the exception, rather part of a trend throughout the rest of the country. What Families USA has shown in Arizona is happening across the United States and we cannot allow it to continue. This Congress must work together to begin the process towards health care reform by reauthorizing SCHIP and legislating a fix to the scheduled 10 percent cut to physicians.”
A copy of the report “Too Great a Burden: Arizona’s Families at Risk” is available at
www.familiesusa.org/assets/pdfs/too-great-a-burden/arizona.pdf
