My holiday spirit U-turned when I signed up for 2019 health insurance. The monthly premiums and huge deductible felt like a one-two punch to the gut.
Not only do Southwest residents pay much higher premiums than urban Coloradans, we also have some of the highest premiums in the nation.
Every layer of our current insurance system includes costs for administrators, marketers, lobbyists, lawyers and advertisers.
This adds up to 20 percent of what insurers collect for premiums that heal no one.
Medicare, a runaway success, manages a mere 3 percent overhead – showing that government can be fiscally responsible.
Some Colorado hospitals have profit margins nearing 40 percent. The top six health insurers watched profits swell 29 percent to $6 billion in the second quarter of 2017.
Every year, 520 Colorado families bury a loved one who couldn’t afford available medical care.
In 2017, 350,000 Coloradans had no insurance, 870,000 were under-insured. That’s one in five of our friends and neighbors.
Medically-driven bankruptcies are spiking.
Our tax dollars subsidize 72 percent of health care costs for members of Congress and their aides. They pay $6,700 a year, while some of us pay nearly four times that with $24,000 in annual premiums.
Financial researchers say Medicare for All can save $710 billion annually.
It’s time to stop accepting greed, injustice and exploitation.
Call or email your state and federal senators and representatives and tell them to support Medicare for All.
Jan Phillips
Durango