There are two critical problems in American health care: Rapidly Escalating Costs The costs of health care are surging at extraordinary rates. National health care spending will exceed $2.7 trillion in 2010, nearly a trillion dollars more than was spent in 2004.  In just the past six years, health insurance premiums have leaped up 87 percent – more than four times the increase in overall inflation and in earnings.

Nationally, the average annual premium for family coverage is nearly $11,500 – up from about $6,300 in 2000.  These enormous increases in premiums are making it much more difficult for employers to continue providing health coverage for employees and retirees. And they also make it much more difficult for individuals and families to pay their shares of the cost of employer-sponsored coverage or to buy insurance themselves. It’s no wonder that the numbers of Americans without health coverage have been climbing.

Staggering & Growing Numbers of Uninsured Americans
The second facet of our health care crisis is a huge and growing number of people without any health coverage. The number of uninsured Americans rose to 46.6 million in 2005, an increase of 6.8 million in just five years. Even these dismaying numbers understate the real scope of the uninsurance problem. Over the course of a two-year period, nearly a third of the population below the age of 65 spends at least a portion of time without health coverage.