Here at Fatlip, we’ve enjoyed an ongoing and spirited discussion about the merits, pitfalls and erstwhile falsehoods surrounding the national health care debate. Yet whether it’s a public option, a singe-payer system or a finely calibrated network of doctor-monkeys providing care solely in exchange for sweet, delicious bananas, one thing cannot be denied: The system of “care” we’re currently under is killing us softly — especially in Kentucky.

A White House analysis titled “The Burden of Health Insurance Premium Increases on American Families” has found that, in the Commonwealth alone, health insurance premiums have, in the past decade, risen 111 percent, whereas wages have grown by only 42 percent. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist (much less a GOP/Blue Dog member of Congress) to realize that the status quo of our current system is throwing regular folks under the bus.

For a look at the national trend, read on.