Baucus on health care: 'Crisis' not too strong a word - Sen. Max Baucus - POLITICO.com

By SEN. MAX BAUCUS | 5/3/09 10:32 PM EDT

Our health care system is in crisis. This isn’t being dramatic or hyperbolic. There is no better, or more accurate, term to describe our current situation than “crisis.” 

It isn’t just a crisis for those who can’t receive care, and it isn’t just a crisis that affects people’s health. It’s a crisis that affects our economy and affects each of us. More important, it is not just me, or doctors, or economists, or executives, or health care experts, or the 46 million uninsured people saying this. The numbers say it all.
In 2007, our economy lost more than $200 billion as a result of the poor health and the shorter life span of the uninsured. ... That’s a crisis. 

Every day, 14,000 people lose their health care coverage on account of our economic downturn. ... That’s a crisis.
Uncompensated care forces the average family with insurance to pay approximately $1,100 a year in additional premiums. ... That’s a crisis. 

Between 2000 and 2008, health care premiums rose more than 78 percent, while wages rose only 15 percent. ... That’s a crisis.

During this same time, in my home state of Montana, health care premiums rose 88 percent, while earnings rose only 16 percent. ... That’s a crisis.

One-and-a-half million families lose their homes each year to foreclosure because of unaffordable medical costs. ... That’s a crisis.

It’s estimated that if we don’t act now, in just seven years, most Americans will spend nearly half their income on health insurance. ... That’s a crisis.

The cost of covering people insured by Medicare and Medicaid is projected to increase by 114 percent in 10 years, while our economy will grow only 64 percent. ... That’s a crisis.

And these numbers don’t even begin to touch on the hundreds of small businesses across the country that can’t afford health care for their employees or the corporations that can’t compete in the global marketplace because health care costs are so high.....

Baucus on health care: 'Crisis' not too strong a word - Sen. Max Baucus - POLITICO.com