Who will protect us from the rising costs of health insurance?

The cost of medical insurance continues to rise and will get even worse with the Republican attacks on our health care system.

As a senior citizen with Aetna supplemental insurance, my co-pay has tripled from $10 in 2013 to $30 in 2016. Aetna’s CEO’s salary was $18 million in 2016 – up more than 8% from 2015. His salary is typical. If we can find a doctor to head up the Center for Disease Control for $375,000 a year, why are our health insurance executives making tens of millions?

State Senator Murphy and Assemblyman Byrne, what have you done to protect us from excessive executive salaries driving up the cost of health insurance?

The obscenely excessive salaries are just the tip of this iceberg. A father of a family of 4 who lost his job when his employer declared bankruptcy has only been able to work as an independent contractor. He pays $20,404 a year for medical insurance plus a $10 co-pay and $40 for a specialist; and $2,849 for dental insurance. This is outrageous! And he is not alone.

Corporations are drastically reducing the number of people to whom they offer medical insurance – the U.S. Census Bureau tells us that only 55.7% had health insurance provided by their employer in 2016. In New York, it is below 50%. The percent of alternate arrangement jobs (e.g. independent contractors and part time workers without health insurance) in the US has increased by 50% from 2005 to 2015.

Representatives Murphy and Byrne, how are you protecting us from companies not offering jobs with benefits? What have you done about the attack by Trump and the Republicans who have repealed the individual mandate to have health insurance (to take effect in 2019). The Congressional Budget Office tells us premiums in the individual insurance market will go up 10% each year. The number of people with insurance will decrease by 4 million in 2019 and 13 million by 2027.

We need representatives in Albany with the courage of Teddy Roosevelt, a NY Republican who became President in 1901. He brought 43 suits to protect people from corporate greed. He started USDA inspection to protect people from adulterated meat and gave the ICC the power to regulate excessive railroad freight rates hurting consumers.

Where is our Teddy Roosevelt?