Even with Obamacare, Americans are still struggling to pay for the health care they need to survive.
The CAP report found that between 2002 and 2012, average out-of-pocket health care costs for a family of four with an employer-provided health plan increased by a whopping 85 percent.
Middle class Americans also have to use more and more of their take-home pay for medical expenses.
In 2000, health care expenses accounted for 5.4 percent of Americans' overall spending. Last year, 7.1 percent of Americans' take-home pay went to health care expenses.
It's these high health care costs that are literally killing people. People like Charlene Dill.
Back in March, Charlene Dill, a hardworking single mom who worked three jobs to help make ends meet, collapsed and died from an untreated heart condition.
Like approximately 750,000 other Floridians stuck in the Red State doughnut-hole, Charlene knew she was sick and needed medication, but couldn't get it, because Florida's Republican governor, Rick Scott, refused to expand Medicaid under Obamacare, and she couldn't afford to pay out-of-pocket.
Meanwhile, while the costs of health care, housing, education and other expenses have soared for middle class families over the past decade, median household income has fallen by 8 percent.
So, there you have it.
Thirty-four years of failed Reaganomics polices have decimated the American middle class, to the point where Americans can't even meet their most basic of needs.
Americans can't put roofs over their heads, put their kids through college, pay for life-saving healthcare or save up for retirement.
This is simply wrong.
We need to get the middle class back on track.
That starts by introducing trade policies that protect American jobs, tax policies that even the playing field, adopting policies that make life-saving health care more affordable and education policies that make a college education a reality instead of a pipe dream for millions of Americans.
It's time to repudiate Reaganomics, so the American middle class can make a comeback.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
1
1
