Partners,

Families USA is excited to share our latest report, The Weight of High Hospital Prices is Keeping Workers Underwater.

Everyone in America deserves the opportunity to earn a living wage and have access to high-quality and affordable health care that keeps them and their families healthy. Yet high and rising health care prices, and in particular hospital prices, are putting all of our health and financial security by helping drive health insurance premium increases and costing workers thousands of dollars in lost wages over time.

Our report finds that if policymakers don’t take action to rein in high and rising hospital prices and health insurance premiums continue to rise, workers are estimated to lose nearly $20,000 thousand dollars in wages over the next decade.

You can read our report here.

Other important findings in the report include:

High and rising hospital prices not only lead to record levels of medical debt and force families to forgo needed medical care but are also a hidden driver of wage stagnation and income inequality.
Rising hospital prices are leading to unsustainable increases in employer-sponsored health insurance premiums at the cost of wage growth that particularly hurts middle- and low-income workers, and disproportionately impacting people of color.
Lost wages resulting from the price gouging of medical monopolies could exacerbate existing racial gaps in educational attainment, homeownership, medical debt, and food insecurity, putting Black, Indigenous, and other people of color at a greater financial disadvantage.
Taken together - increased premiums, lost wages, and higher cost sharing requirements and out of pocket costs - it is clear that the price gouging of large hospital corporations directly threatens the financial security of consumers, families, and workers alike.

Call to action

Over the weekend, Congress released the text of the current health extender’s package and critical health reforms to address corporate hospital pricing abuses—including hospital price transparency, site neutral payments for drug administration services, and honest billing reforms—are omitted. It is critical that we keep up the pressure and urge Congress to hold large health care corporations accountable to protect families from financial ruin.

One way you can do so by visiting our webpage, Same Service, Same Price. The site includes patient stories, links to local broadcast news stories about affected people, as well as an opportunity for you to send a letter to your senator demanding action.

Thank You, and please let me know if you have any questions.

Mike Persley

Strategic Partnerships Campaign Manager

Families USA