Picking Out Of Pocket

by Chris Bodenner

KHN's Jordan Rau reports:

Under the House proposal, people receiving government subsidies could still end up spending 20 percent or more of their annual incomes on premiums, deductibles and co-insurance, according to estimates prepared by the House Committee on Ways and Means and obtained by Kaiser Health News. That financial load could grow substantially if the proposal's financing $1 trillion over a decade is pared back as congressional leaders come under pressure to reduce the legislation's costs. "What we see every day is that families and individuals who have high co-payments or high out-of-pocket expenses that they have to satisfy are virtually in the same situation as people who don't have insurance. They delay or don't seek care," says Elisabeth Arenales [...] "Most of the conversation" in Washington "is focusing on premium costs and not out of pocket expenses."