Study Finds Healthcare Costs Increase Significantly More Than Wages

Families USA, a non-profit organization for health care consumers, today released a report comparing the average cost of health care in Pennsylvania to the median income. The findings show that from the year 2000 to 200, health care costs have increased by 86.2 percent while earnings rose by only 13.4 percent. Families USA Executive Director Ron Pollack says that the most disconcerting part is that Pennsylvanians are paying more for health care and receiving less coverage. He says that health care costs were already an issue and that when the economy took a downswing, the situation has taken a turn for the worse. The report also cites a study that found that more than half of bankruptcies are due in part to health care costs. Currently the number of uninsured non-elderly Pennsylvanians is about 1.2 million--11.3 percent of the non-elderly population.