I think that health care costs affect family finances in four different ways. First one is, the family's share of the health insurance premium. The second one is out-of-pocket spending for co-pays, deductibles, and prescriptions. The third one is, how much the employer's share of the health insurance premium. Fourth, the portion of the family's federal and state taxes devoted to government health programs, Medicaid, Medicare, veterans' health care, and public health. These first two categories of these costs family premiums and out-of-pocket spending are readily visible to families. The other two are not so largely visible to policyholders. Although employers pay a large share of employees' health insurance premiums, most employers agree that
