or else it will increasingly threaten the overall economy in future years.

Since 1999, CPI is up 34%, workers' wages are up only 29%, but health insurance premiums are up a whopping 119%, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. And for those workers fortunate enough to have employer-provided health coverage, their companies are desparate to save money and are shifting more and more of the costs onto employees, in the form of increased deductible and co-pays, and higher employee premiums (i.e. "cost sharing").

The USA badly needs a strong national public option to compete with and incent the private health insurers to become much more efficient and hold down these outrageous cost escalations.