Healthcare costs burden more Americans :study

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A growing number of Americans spend more than 10 percent of their income on out-of-pocket expenses for healthcare services and insurance, according to a study published on Thursday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62O1DJ20100325

The percentage of Americans with a "high financial burden for healthcare" rose to 19 percent in 2006 from 14 percent in 2001, according to the Washington-based Center for Studying Health System Change.

The think tank defines a high out-of-pocket burden for healthcare as spending more than 10 percent of before-tax income on insurance premiums and medical care.

"The basic finding was that out-of-pocket costs for health insurance premiums and services were rising faster than family incomes," said Peter Cunningham, who led the study which was published online by the journal Health Affairs. (www.healthaffairs.org/)

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Consumers Union health policy analyst Steven Findlay said the study was another reminder that healthcare is too expensive in the United States and why reform was needed.