In 1980, the national expenditure on health care in the United States was just over 9% of Gross Domestic Product. Today it accounts for nearly twice that — close to 18%. This increase has come at a high price, hitting home most obviously in workers’ pay. According to data published by the Kaiser Family Foundation, workers’ earnings rose by 47% from 1999 to 2012, but their contribution to health insurance premiums during that time went up by 180%. Health insurance premiums rose four and half times faster than the rate of inflation over the same period.