More proof health care system is unfair

There's more proof that there's no free lunch, and that applies to health care as well.

Families USA, a healthcare reform advocacy group, has released a study showing that the current system unfairly penalizes those who do have health insurance, throwing the system into a spiral that threatens to go out of control.

Families USA said families with health insurance are paying an average of $1,017 a year in health insurance premiums to compensate providers for healthcare to the uninsured.

The "hidden health tax" translated to $368 for an individual in 2009, compared to $922 for family insurance premiums and $341 for individuals in 2005, the last time the group did a similar study.

"Ironically, as the cost of health insurance increases, more people find themselves unable to afford insurance," the report concluded. "As more people lose insurance, there are more people who can't pay all of their medical bills and a further cost shift to private premiums is required."

Plus, the spiral deepens as those who can't afford insurance put off health care until the problem is much worse.

People without health insurance who sought treatment in 2008 received about $116 billion in care, paying 37 percent of the bill themselves and government programs and charities picking up another 26 percent.

The remainder, some $42.7 billion, was passed along to the insurance companies, who then passed the cost along to consumers in the form of higher premiums.

There's no doubt that the current system is a hidden tax that is unfair to providers and consumers.

The challenge is replacing it with a better system that does not increase the overall cost of health care because of overhead and fraud.