By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 business commentator
Dallas, TX – There are now 43.6 million Americans without healthcare insurance. Nobody really believed the numbers would grow to these proportions. Unfortunately, the future looks as bleak as the present. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Midday.
A U.S. Census Bureau report confirms an increase of almost 2.5 million more people were without health insurance in 2002. That's a 5.8 percent rise from '01, thanks to a major decline in employer-based insurance.
And how do we know this trend is likely to continue? Because - as goes Wal-Mart there's a pretty good chance, so goes the rest of corporate America. Not only are they the world's number-one retailer, they're America's biggest private employer. And that carries a lot of influence. In a frenzy to cut costs and increase profit margins, Wal-Mart's employee health benefits program found itself on the chopping block last year.
The following is taken directly from the Wall Street Journal: "Wal-Mart makes new hourly workers wait six months to sign up for its benefits plan and doesn't cover retirees at all. Its deductibles range as high as $1,000, triple the norm. It refuses to pay for flu shots, eye exams, child vaccinations, chiropractic services and numerous other treatments allowed by many other companies. In many cases, it won't pay for treatment of pre-existing conditions in the first year of coverage."
Hence, what are companies or the self-employed to do when studies predict another 12 percent rise in health-care costs next year? That would be five years in a row of double-digit percentage increases.
And it is absolutely the bleakest in Texas. The Lone Star State stands last on the list of insured residents. Twenty five percent of our neighbors and friends are without health-care insurance. So with almost the same amount of Americans uninsured as there are who sign up for a Do-Not-Call-List, surely Congress can act nearly as swift to remedy this situation. For KERA Marketplace Midday, I'm Maxine Shapiro.
Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 p.m.
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