[f]or the majority of Americans, the largest portion of their health expenses are covered by their employer. At last estimates approximately 58% of Americans get their health insurance through their employers. The average cost of premiums per individual was $3,515 in 2009 whereas for employers (particularly major employers such as GE or IBM) the cost for providing health insurance to employees was $9,860. Thus, the burden of directly paying for insurance for individuals primarily falls on the employer community. JXEKSW2QWPDF

Health care costs move from the individual, micro-level, all the way to the final purchaser (or reimburser) of health care the American government. Each time the expense is passed on to a new body in this perverse economic system, it grows more costly and/or inefficient.

Please consider this the second post dedicated to analyzing a specific health care myth in an ongoing series. The intent of this post is address the myth that we here in America should not look overseas to learn about meaningful and effective health reform. From accusing any foreign health system of being socialist or of rationing health care or even claiming that we have the best health care system in the world. The comparative focus of this post is on a single foreign system that generally fails to get significant attention – Japan. Now, by absolutely no means is the Japanese health system perfect, far from it. However, given the public bugaboo that is “socialized medicine” and the nature of our employer sponsored health care Japan presents an interesting study in how a private-employer based health care system can run efficiently and cut costs.

How exactly having such a high national uninsured rate impacts you – your family, your savings, your wallet. We all pay a “hidden health care tax” - a deceptive terminology because its not a tax, but rather the portion of your annual health insurance premiums used to cover uncompensated care rather than you, or your families, health.

Recently, there has been some controversy concerning the number of uninsured Americans. To be honest, there is some basis for this confusion, though some groups and individuals have blown it far out of proportion.

A large number of recent polls show that: "most insured Americans are satisfied with the quality of the health care they receive" (ABC); most insured Americans say that they are satisfied with the cost of their own health care (ABC); and that most Americans are satisfied ("very" or "somewhat") with the quality of the health care they receive (CNN). Perhaps the surprising aspect of this is that at the same time most polls show that the majority Americans also state they understand the need for national health reform (Kaiser Family Fund).

As early as 1911-1912 leading national voices such as Theodore Roosevelt and the AMA were calling for a new health care infrastructure that would provide health insurance to all Americans with a particular focus on working class Americans. Organized opposition from other physician organizations and conservative elements stymied these efforts. One of the leading arguments used was that the health reform efforts were an attempt by the German Emperor (Kaizer Wilhelm II) to take over America.