WV WORKERS HEALTH-CARE COSTS SKYROCKET - Nearly 500,000 Have No Coverage

(09/30/2004)

Health care costs for West Virginia workers have nearly doubled in four years, according to a study by Families USA. The escalating costs have happened while another 500,000 West Virginians do not have nor cannot afford health insurance. The study says during the same period, earnings in West Virginia rose only 12 percent. West Virginia was one of 35 states where average premiums for workers went up at least three times faster than their average earnings in the past four years. Nationally, health premiums for workers went up 36 percent, with nearly 50 million Americans having no health coverage. US Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Bill Pierce says Families USA has a partisan agenda and is using misleading statistics. www.familiesusa.org

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