Mickey Trznadel isn’t rich. The 55-year old Brookfield resident earns about $25,000 a year landscaping, painting homes, and plowing snow. But as someone with diabetes, high blood pressure, and a history of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, health insurance is an expense he can’t forgo. The last thing he needed was a jump in his insurance premiums. Of course, that’s exactly what happened. The Tribune’s Judith Graham has the details:

Monthly premiums for his individual medical policy, with a $1,000 deductible, were being lifted to $665.50 from $433.50 previously—a whopping 53.5 percent increase … Eventually, after repeated phone calls, Blue Cross and Blue Shield officials offered him a deal: Raise the deductible to $2,500 and the monthly premium would drop to $501.78. Trznadel took the offer.

In Illinois, Trznadel isn’t alone. As we reported in October, health care premiums for Illinois families have risen by 73.1 percent since 2000. The jump is not all unexpected -- Blue Cross and Blue Shield spokeswoman Mary Ann Schultz told Graham that our inefficient medical system has seen costs grow by 2,780 percent since 1976, an average of 8 percent a year for medical inflation and 4 percent a year for increases in utilization because of aging.

What’s problematic is that many Illinois consumers aren’t protected from the profit-driven decisions of insurers, meaning private companies can hike premiums arbitrarily. And with incomes stagnating, even routine cost adjustments price out a growing number of Americans. “As it stands, some experts are warning that consumers may be nearing the limit of what they can shoulder in the way of higher out-of-pocket costs, including deductibles and co-payments for medical services,” writes Graham. “If that’s the case, a primary strategy for constraining premium increases will no longer be available.”

Fundamental reform is needed to ensure access and affordability for all Illinoisans. Dr. Quentin Young and Nicholas Skala outlined how to make that a reality in their October column about the state’s single-payer bill. Read the whole thing here.