Over the last three years, according to research published in Health Affairs, out-of-pocket healthcare costs have increased 34% says WSJ.

Even having health insurance, it would seem doesn’t appear to protect the average American against the rapidly escalating costs of health care and to prevent the health care system from taking a big bite out of household budgets.

The general consensus is that everyone is just paying more: employers paying more for premiums and employees paying more for co-pays and other out-of-pocket costs. In short, healthcare is just getting more expensive period.

The solution: no one seems to know. What we do know, according to this research, is that even insured Americans are underinsured and are paying it through the nose, or I guess, right out of their pockets. This seems downright unacceptable and time for a change.

Summer Johnson, PhD