This is the third and final part of my first hand health care saga I’ve been relating this week.
I am not revisiting the whole ordeal again. If you want to read in detail, flip through the last two blogs. Get kleenex before you do, because in my opinion, the US Health Care System is in a sad state of shambles.
I think it’s important to understand my story, because it’s one of a 46 million piece puzzle.
Obviously due to medical bills, my own credit went south, (way south, as in subterranean).
Again, if I were just one person facing this alone, it would mean nothing more than a bit of information to file away. I’m not. There are 46 million others out there with similar histories.
This army of uninsured represents a sea of individuals who did not (or could not) most likely, contribute widely to boosting the economy via spending and purchases.
I know I’d rather have been buying a home and purchasing items for it, hiring contractors, etc. than taking time off work to appear in court to grovel over not being able to pay my medical bills.
Health care is a business. Like most businesses, if they have a significant number of individuals who default on debt or are slow paying, the business must pass costs on to everyone. All those attorney fees paid by hospitals, to collect from folks like me, come from someone’s pocket. Yeah, I know, they can “write it off”… (Actually Medicaid reimburses for some of that as well).
But the truth be told, if a business isn’t making a profit, it has to take steps to increase profit elsewhere. We see that today in the rising costs of health care, understaffed hospitals, increased out of pocket insurance, and inflated drug prices.
Here’s the stats on those other uninsured and how they influence the economy and the health care of the nation.
Please read them carefully, I think you’ll be shocked:
Nearly 46 million Americans, or 18 percent of the population under the age of 65, were without health insurance in 2007, the latest government data available.
The large majority of the uninsured (80 percent) are native or naturalized citizens.
Nearly 90 million people – about one-third of the population below the age of 65 spent a portion of either 2006 or 2007 without health coverage.
Over 8 in 10 uninsured people come from working families – almost 70 percent from families with one or more full-time workers and 11 percent from families with part-time workers.
In 2007, 37 million workers were uninsured because not all businesses offer health benefits, not all workers qualify for coverage and many employees cannot afford their share of the health insurance premium even when coverage is at their fingertips.
The number of uninsured children in 2007 was 8.1 million – or 10.7 percent of all children in the U.S.
Young adults (18-to-24 years old) remained the least likely of any age group to have health insurance in 2007 – 28.1 percent of this group did not have health insurance.
Nearly 40 percent of the uninsured population reside in households that earn $50,000 or more.
A growing number of middle-income families cannot afford health insurance payments even when coverage is offered by their employers.
Millions of workers don’t have the opportunity to get health coverage. A third of firms in the U.S. did not offer coverage in 2007.
Nearly two-fifths (38 percent) of all workers are employed in smaller businesses, where less than two-thirds of firms now offer health benefits to their employees.It is estimated that 266,000 companies dropped their health coverage between 2000-2005 and 90 percent of those firms have less than 25 employees.
Even if employees are offered coverage on the job, they can’t always afford their portion of the premium. Employee spending for health insurance coverage (employee’s share of family coverage) has increased 120 percent between 2000 and 2006.Losing a job, or quitting voluntarily, can mean losing affordable coverage – not only for the worker but also for their entire family. Only seven (7) percent of the unemployed can afford to pay for COBRA health insurance – the continuation of group coverage offered by their former employers. Premiums for this coverage average almost $700 a month for family coverage and $250 for individual coverage, a very high price given the average $1,100 monthly unemployment check
About 20 percent of the uninsured (vs. three percent of those with coverage) say their usual source of care is the emergency room.
Studies estimate that the number of excess deaths among uninsured adults age 25-64 is in the range of 18,000 a year. This mortality figure is more than the number of deaths from diabetes (17,500) within the same age group.
According to one study, over a third of the uninsured have problems paying medical bills.The unpaid bills were substantial enough that many had been turned over to collection agencies – and nearly a quarter of the uninsured adults said they had changed their way of life significantly to pay medical bills.
The uninsured are increasingly paying “up front” — before services will be rendered. When they are unable to pay the full medical bill in cash at the time of service, they can be turned away except in life-threatening circumstances.
So, you see, Health Care is everyone’s concern. Even if you have insurance-we who are uninsured or who rack up huge medical bills, affect the entire nation. We affect you, your income, and your own insurance and medical benefits. And you are paying for us now, even without Universal Health Care. This is why some project Universal Health Care might save us money. I doubt that, but this is the data it’s based on. Either way- health care does need reform. A significant portion of my readers, are here because they seek credit help, due to medical bills.
What additional costs are created by the uninsured population?
- The United States spends nearly $100 billion per year to provide uninsured residents with health services, often for preventable diseases or diseases that physicians could treat more efficiently with earlier diagnosis.
- Hospitals provide about $34 billion worth of uncompensated care a year.
- Another $37 billion is paid by private and public payers for health services for the uninsured and $26 billion is paid out-of-pocket by those who lack coverage.
- The uninsured are 30 to 50 percent more likely to be hospitalized for an avoidable condition, with the average cost of an avoidable hospital stayed estimated to be about $3,300.
- The increasing reliance of the uninsured on the emergency department has serious economic implications, since the cost of treating patients is higher in the emergency department than in other outpatient clinics and medical practices.
- A study found that 29 percent of people who had health insurance were “underinsured” with coverage so meager they often postponed medical care because of costs.
- Nearly 50 percent overall, and 43 percent of people with health coverage, said they were “somewhat” to “completely” unprepared to cope with a costly medical emergency over the coming year.
Just fiscal food for thought, folks.