Nearly 1.1 million Coloradans will spend more than 10 percent of their income on health care next year — despite the fact that most of them have health insurance, according to a study released Thursday.
Ten percent is the cutoff most policy analysts use to determine who is “underinsured,” said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA and a study author.
“Insurance no longer offers the protection that American families need,” said U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette of Denver, who participated with the advocacy group in a telephone news conference Wednesday.
“This is a sobering report and one we really need to stand up and take notice of,” DeGette said.
About 300,000 Coloradans will spend even more on health care — a quarter of their family’s income — although three in four of those will have insurance, the report calculates.
For a household earning $52,000, the state’s median, that means $13,000 or more spent on premiums, co-pays and other health expenses.
The Families USA analysis did not include older people, who are eligible for federally funded Medicare.
Nita Schissell, a 53-year-old Loveland resident and medical practice manager, said she’s familiar with rising insurance and health care costs.
She’s watched her premium cost increase and coverage decrease for a number of years, but wasn’t terribly worried about expenses, because she and her husband were healthy.
Last year, they switched to an 80 percent policy offered by Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield — worse coverage than she was used to, but the premium of $750 a month per couple was better than other options.
In October, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
After surgery, radiation therapy and physical therapy, the 20 percent she was responsible for suddenly added up to more than $20,000 — during a year when her family’s income was about $78,000 pre-tax, Schissell said.
Schissell said she blames insurance companies for the rising costs.
“They convinced all of us 10 years ago that if they raised deductibles, raised the co-pay, insurance would be more affordable for everyone. It didn’t turn out that way,” she said.
Families USA’s Pollack said hospitalization and drug costs are skyrocketing.
National spending on prescription drugs doubled in the past seven years to about $248 billion annually.
Hospitalization costs rose from from $417 billion to $747 billion in the same period, Pollock said.
Michael Huotari, executive director of the Colorado Association of Health Plans, said part of those increases stem from people using medicine and hospitals more — and the increased cost of technology.
In other industries, technology has led to decreased costs, Huotari said, but the opposite has proved true in health care.
Dede de Percin, executive director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, said the rising ranks of the uninsured has also contributed, particularly in Colorado, where about 17 percent of the population — 790,000 people — lack health insurance.
When the uninsured seek help in emergency rooms, the hospitals pass part of their costs to insurers and insured patients, de Percin said.
“So those of us with insurance end up paying indirectly for those who do not have it,” she said.
Katy Human: 303-954-1910 or khuman@denverpost.com
