Cost Shifting of Uninsured Health Costs.

Readers will recall I occasionally post on health care issues that affect those who are income eligible for HUD programs.

New report from Families USA HERE provides a good summary of who pays for health care costs for uninsured. Summary from the report:

• The uninsured paid for, on average, more than one-third (37 percent) of the total costs of the care they received out of their own pockets.
• Third-party sources, such as government programs and charities, paid for another 26 percent of that care.

To make up for this uncompensated care, the costs were shifted to insurers in the form of higher charges for health services. These higher charges are then passed on to families and businesses as higher premiums. The impact of this hidden health tax on annual premiums for families and individuals in 2008 was as follows:

• For family health care coverage, the hidden health tax was $1,017.
• For health coverage provided to single individuals, the hidden health tax was $368.