Health care expenses are growing by the day. Premiums have risen 98 percent since 2000, but wages are not keeping up. American families and businesses are struggling to balance quality health care with financial demands. Millions of Americans are just one medical emergency away from bankruptcy.
In a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 29 percent of respondents indicated that health care was the most important problem for Congress and the president to address - more than terrorism, the economy, immigration and taxes. Congress must put making quality health care affordable for all Americans a top priority.
Dear [Decision maker],
Health care costs in the United States are increasing more rapidly than wages, causing American families to have to make difficult financial decisions about their health. Congress must act to make quality health care affordable for every American.
Health care costs have grown on average 2.5 percentage points faster than the U.S. gross domestic product since 1970. But almost half of the $2 trillion spent on health care in the U.S. is used to treat a mere 5 percent of the population - meaning that millions of Americans lack the financial resources to live a healthy life.
Indeed, an April 2008 Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 28 percent of respondents said that the recent changes in the economy had caused them to experience a "serious problem" paying for health care and health insurance. Nearly 4 in 10 reported having dire financial consequences because of medical bills in the last five years.
[Your comment here]
It is critical that you work to establish a health care system in America that provides affordable, quality care.
