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While smokers have had a definite impact on health insurance premiums in general, only this week did a study find how much smoking costs subsidized coverage, reflecting yet another factor that impedes progress towards affordable medical insurance.

At MSN Health, a report released by RTI International researchers finds that current smokers cost U.S. Medicaid $9.7 billion a year, or about 5.6% of total Medicaid expenditures.

And with smokers in general costing billions a year in health care costs and lost productivity, it's easy to see how affordable medical insurance has in part been impeded by smoking. It's also easy to see why many people advocate a new health care system that allows non-smokers and those who make healthy lifestyle decisions to pay much less for insurance.

But such changes are not going to happen overnight. So in the meantime, it's best not to smoke, and to find an affordable medical insurance plan that allows for important yearly checkups.

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A recent report designed to identify state-specific health care costs and the importance of medical coverage finds that Pennsylvania health insurance premiums are too high for the average family.

As it's summarized at Phillyburbs.com, "Nearly 20 percent of Pennsylvanians, most of whom have insurance, will spend more than 10 percent of their family's pre-tax income on healthcare costs next year."

Another 601,000 will spend more than a quarter of their pre-tax income on healthcare costs next year. Clearly Pennsylvania health insurance premiums are far too high. How did this happen? Increasing premiums and health plans that cover fewer services or require higher out-of-pocket costs are cited as driving the phenomenon.

But yet another factor for rising health care costs is the relatively unhealthy status of Americans themselves. Not only are health plans covering fewer services, but people are getting sicker, leading to a rise in overall costs.

Western Pennsylvania Congressman Jason Altmire, D-4, called the figures “startling,” and upcoming presidential elections may make Pennsylvania health insurance less expensive and easier to come by. But until then, consumers are urged to make healthy lifestyle decisions, and search online aggressively for medical coverage that offers important yearly checkups

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The Washington Post reported this week that along with medical health insurance woes, black women are more likely to suffer from more advanced versions of breast cancer, and have their disease underestimated by doctors.

According to the article, "The formula that doctors use to calculate a woman's risk of breast cancer underestimates the danger for black women most of the time, and especially for those aged 50 and older - the age when they are most likely to benefit from screening tests and protective drugs."

How is this possible? A growing body of evidence suggests that breast cancer tends to be much more aggressive and deadly among black women, which could help explain why they are more likely to die from it, even though fewer of them get it.

At the same time, statistically fewer black women have access to medical health insurance, which means that they don't have access to the doctors and treatments that can help with an early detection of the disease.

And medical health insurance should also provide for yearly checkups and education regarding the prevention and diagnosis of diseases like cancer, which is one more reason why affordable health insurance needs to be available to Americans of any color.

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As Kaiser Health releases new and more disturbing statistics regarding racial disparities in the health care system, calls for low cost health insurance grow more and more insistent.

According to Kaiser, "Black patients with end-stage renal or kidney disease who live in poorer neighborhoods are 56% less likely than whites to be added to a transplant waiting list." At the same time, similar data reports that minority youth are less likely to receive important dental checkups, and minority women are more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer.

All of which points directly to our health care system, and the need for a low cost health insurance plan that can appeal to everyone.

Many are arguing that diseases like breast cancer and kidney disease are expensive, and won't be covered by a low cost health insurance plan. However, these diseases, alongside the most expensive that strike in America (like heart disease and diabetes), are all easier to stop in early stages. Those who don't enjoy the benefits of health coverage often don't get diagnosed in the earlier and more treatable stages of disease because they don't see a doctor until it's too late.

This is why it's so important to be healthy, and to have a health coverage plan that allows for regular checkups. Those checkups don't just save money in the long run, they save a lot of lives.

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Democrats moved a step closer to a workable compromise with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger this week, offering hope that perhaps an affordable health insurance plan is on the horizon for the 4.9 Californians who don't have coverage.

At the San Jose Mercury News, officials stated that though they were pleased with a couple of key compromises, the two sides are still at odds over how much employers should pay to cover employees.

On Monday, Democrats accepted key elements of Schwarzenegger's plan, including a requirement that everyone have a health insurance policy. They also lowered the amount employers would be required to pay.

However, though everyone agrees that an affordable health insurance plan is much needed, most unions and small business organizations are still opposed. And those unions and consumer groups have been attacking the mandatory insurance requirement in Schwarzenegger's plan for months, saying it is unfair to force everyone to buy insurance when premiums are rising so much faster than wages or inflation.

It's not clear how this situation will be resolved: employers can't afford to offer comprehensive coverage to employees, employees can't afford to purchase coverage themselves, and no one wants more taxes. But one thing is clear, an affordable health insurance plan made available to all would lower medical debt, cut health care spending, and make a lot of people very happy.

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In a forum sponsored earlier this week by the hospital trade group The Kaiser Family Foundation, John McCain reiterated his position against universal health insurance coverage, and clarified his own ideas regarding health care in America.

According to FOXNews.com, McCain cleared up some confusion regarding his ideas for employer provided insurance, since some aides had erroneously indicated that to help pay for his sweeping reforms, McCain would end a provision in the tax code that allows employers to deduct the cost of health care from their taxable earnings. "But on Wednesday, McCain said, 'There's no reason for us to remove the employer tax incentive. I think that should stay exactly as it is.'"

McCain does admit that under his plan employees who have employer-provided health insurance would be taxed on the portion of their coverage that their employer pays. But those costs would be offset by providing tax credits of $2,500 to individuals and $5,000 to families, effectively paying for their health insurance coverage.

McCain insists that while he does want health insurance coverage for all Americans, he does not feel that coverage should be mandated. Instead, incentives should be offered that would make it easier for employers to offer coverage, and easier for the American public to afford it.