COST: "A Big Premium Sucker Punch"

Not a subtle headline in Sunday's Washington Post Business section. But then it's not a subtle problem. The article, "A Premium Sucker Punch: Soaring Insurance Costs are a Blow, Even When Employers Cover More of the Tab" told us that, guess what, what we are saving on cheaper gas is not coming anywhere near what we are spending on higher health insurance costs.

Premiums are rising. So are out-of-pocket costs and deductibles. Overall, health costs are rising faster than wages.

A growing number of workers in 2009 will pay more for health benefits—and in some cases receive less coverage—as their employers grapple with the financial fallout of rising medical expenses and diminished revenue and profits, recent surveys of human resource officials show.

The Corporate Executive Board found in its survey that a quarter of officials from 350 large corporations said they had increased deductibles an average of 9 percent in 2008. But 30 percent of the employers said they expected to raise deductibles an average of 14 percent in 2009. Mercer, a global benefits consulting firm, surveyed nearly 2,000 large corporations in a representative poll and found that 44 percent planned to increase employee-paid portion of premiums in 2009, compared with 40 percent in 2008.

Even employers trying to be generous in a tight economy aren't able to cushion workers. The Post story focused on Donna Carter, a married mother of three teens, who is a technical editor for a consulting firm in Washington, D.C. Her employer is paying a bigger share of the premium for the family, half instead of a third a few years ago. But because health care costs are rising so much, Carter is still paying $200 a month more in premiums, plus higher co-pays. Her story is another reminder of how our broken health care system is holding back our middle class, and hurting our overall economy. Carter said her family has cut vacations and restaurants, and trimmed spending on food and clothing to keep up with the health expenses. Exactly what our economy doesn't need at the moment.