The majority of
uninsured people remained with the lower income adults. There is an
estimated 48 million working-age American adults that have been
uninsured at some time during this year. Of these uninsured 67% of
these were in families that had at least one person working full-time.
"The jump in
uninsured among those with modest incomes is alarming, particularly at a
time when our economy has been improving," said Commonwealth Fund
President and study co-author Karen Davis. "If we don't act soon to
expand coverage to the uninsured, the health of the U.S. population, the
productivity of our workforce, and our economy are at risk."
Not only is there
expensive cost of health insurance, but also there is an increase in
people with medical bills that they cannot pay for at one time. More
adults are struggling with medical debt. There is roughly one out of
five adult (21%) that said they are paying off medical debt off over
time. There is one-third (34%) who had experienced medical bill
problems. These people were unable to pay off the bills at one time and
have been on a payment schedule to repay the debt. This medical debt is
not just affecting the uninsured, it also is happening to the insured as
well. Roughly 62% of the adults that have medical debt had insurance
when the medical bills happened.
Without insurance
the uninsured people were more likely to skip going to the doctor and
not take prescription medication. There were an estimated 59 percent of
people that had a chronic illness such as diabetes or asthma that
skipped medication because they could not afford it and they were
uninsured.
The uninsured
people were more likely to go to the emergency room or hospital because
they avoided preventative treatments. There was approximately 35% of
the uninsured with a chronic condition who went to the ER or stayed in
the hospital overnight or did both. Comparably, the insured showed
approximately 16% of these people went to the ER or hospital if the
suffered from a chronic condition.
Preventive
screenings were not as good with the uninsured. Only 18% of the
uninsured adults age 50 – 64 had a colon cancer screening in the past
five years, compared to 56% of the insured who got the screening.
"These findings
paint a disturbing picture of the day-to-day impact of being uninsured
on the physical as well as financial health of millions of Americans,"
said Sara Collins, Commonwealth Fund Senior Program Officer, and the
study's lead author. "The uninsured are more likely to go without
preventive care or screening tests that could prevent more serious and
costly health problems. For an uninsured person who is unlucky enough to
get sick, it is easy to see how quickly they can fall into a downward
spiral of debt, forgone care, and poorer health."
Health insurance
is very expensive, but if you consider the cost of care for emergency
visits it might be worth having at least some insurance. Usually
insurance will get you a reduced rate on your medical bills, even if the
insurance company pays very little of the medical costs. If a
person takes a proactive approach with preventive medicine they will
likely avoid costly medical expense in the future. It is unfortunate
that the cost of medical care has escalated to exclude people from
affording it.
CoverTheUninsured.org is a website
dedicated to a group of people that want to change the United States
situation concerning health insurance. They are planning May 1st -
7th to make Americans more aware of the health insurance crisis.
They will be at Washington D.C. to address the health insurance problem.
Nicole Wilson
Best Syndication
Health
Insurance
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