American's Without Health Insurance Rising - Costs Everyone

The problem of uninsured American's might seem like a problem for somebody else, but it's yours.

Roughly 8% or about $1,100 per year of average family's health insurance is actually a cost shifted to them due to our broken system that fails to cover the uninsured.

In 2007 and 2008 roughly 87 million Americans went without health insurance at some point. As unemployment rises another 14,000 lose their health insurance every day. Furthermore according to a report from the Center for American Progress:

The uninsured pay more for care—and get less—than those with insurance. But when the uninsured cannot pay, health care providers shift those costs to those who can pay—those who have insurance coverage. This leads to higher premiums for those who buy their insurance on the individual market, as well as workers who get insurance for themselves and their families through their job.

Our health care system in the US is broken. Putting the burden of health insurance on employers makes us less competitive with the rest of the world and as more and more companies cut payrolls the number of uninsured will increase. More unemployment pulls the economy down as well..

Isn't it time for a national health insurance plan? We are the only industrialized country without one and we rank far down the scale on the quality of our health care.