The real health care battle in this country isn't the one being fought over the bill everyone now calls "Obamacare." In fact, it's not a battle between Republicans and Democrats at all. Therealbattle is the one millions of Americans face every day as they struggle to pay medical bills that now average nearly $10,000 per year -- if they're "lucky."

The United States is now the only developed nation on Earth where the average family with insurance pays more for health care than it does for groceries. That includes both the family share of premiums and out-of-pocket costs for medical treatment. In fact, those out-of-pockets costs alone exceed a family's average yearly cost for gasoline, according to a new study.

That study found that the average household medical bill for a family of four with "good" PPO coverage is nearly now $9,144 per year. That's a crippling and unsustainable expense for most family budgets, a burden which is crippling the economy and ruining lives.

This struggle seems to have been forgotten in all the back-and-forth over Obamacare. Who's fighting for these American households as they wage their losing battle against health care costs?

The wrong argument.

Certainly not the Republicans. They've offered no alternative vision except that of unrestrained greed, a 'free-market' health care jungle red in tooth and claw.

For their part, too many Democrats and liberals have concentrated on defending the Affordable Care Act. Sure, that bill has some good features: It's a good thing that young people can now access their parents' health care coverage until they're twenty-six, and that people with pre-existing conditions are no longer excluded from coverage, and we should say so. And the ACA may help to slow the rate of health care cost increases.

But those costs are already unacceptably - and unsustainably - high. Medical costs are a heavy burden for many people. More attention must be paid to outlining the vision of a better health system which improves life for all Americans.

Premature exhilaration.

Many of the ACA bill's defenders took a victory lap over last week's rate announcement from California's health exchanges. "Obamacare Will Be A Debacle -- For Republicans," wrote Paul Krugman. California's rates were "very good news" for the law, wroteEzra Klein and Evan Soltas.Matt Yglesiassaid California's results were "evidence" that "fundamentally (the bill's) implementation is going to work out great, and people are going to love it."

Read more:

Richard (RJ) Eskow: Health Care's Forgotten Crisis, Part 1: Families Can't Afford Medical Care.