Jul
4
One of the hot button issues regarding healthcare, are the reported 45 million uninsured Americans. How do we help those without health insurance? First we need to understand who the uninsured are and why they are uninsured.
How many uninsured are there?
The number of uninsured has been increasing over the past twenty years from about 30 million in the mid 80′s to the 45 million number reported in 2007. However, if one looks at the number of uninsured in relation to the U.S. population over the past 20 years, it steadily averages about 15%. Thus, the reason the number of uninsured is increasing is because the population is creasing. Furthermore, if you look closer at those uninsured, only half of the uninsured are uninsured for the whole year. The reason most of these people are uninsured is because they are between jobs. So, at any one time, the prevalence of the disease (i.e. “being uninsured”) is about 15% of the population, but they do not have the disease all year. They get another job and are cured (“insured”). In fact, another scare statistic reported, states that 89 million Americans were uninsured at some point during 2006-2007 (not clear if they are referring to a one or two year period here). Evidently a lot of Americans change jobs.
Who are the uninsured?
The largest group of uninsured is between the ages of 19 and 24. 88% of the uninsured are in good to excellent health. 47% of the uninsured have full time employment. Thus many of the uninsured are healthy twenty year olds in entry level jobs which are not supplying health insurance and these young healthy twenty year olds do not purchase their own health insurance.
Further study shows that close to 25% of the uninsured are not U.S. citizens and that half of them are here illegally.
So what can we deduce from the data. Anchoring health insurance to your employer because of the tax advantages is the major cause of not being insured. Indeed we do have a problem of chronically uninsured for various reasons including high risk chronic illnesses and poverty. However, the true count of chronically uninsured U.S. citizens not between jobs is estimated to be less than 5% of the population.
How do we fix the problem?
Simply break the link between your employer and your health insurance. By giving the tax advantage to individuals and not to businesses, your health insurance will be yours and not anchored to your employer (i.e. portable), just like your auto insurance, home insurance, and life insurance. People will not be making job decisions based on whether or not they provide health insurance. People will not fear changing jobs because of the fear of losing their health insurance. You can purchase a policy which best suits your situation in life, and not what best suits your employers. Young healthy twenty year olds may choose to purchase a low cost, high deductable plan to cover them in the unlikely event that something serious should occur. Individuals purchasing their own health insurance, will be aware of the costs and thus be motivated toward a healthy lifestyle. As far as the illegal aliens, frankly I don’t think we have any obligation to let those who jumped the fence into the game.
Comments
2 Responses to “45 Million Americans without Health Insurance – What do we do?”
Leave a Reply
As a potential patient, the last paragraph sums it up for me. I couldn’t agree more. Coupled with more flexible & potentially more frequent enrollment & re-enrollment periods, health insurers would be forced to provide at least adequate customer service to their “members” (i.e. patients). This would in turn create at least a smidgen of free market forces in the industry. If company A doesn’t measure up in terms of coverage, responsiveness, & eventually premiums then an individual could switch to company B. While this could end up becoming a paper trail nightmare, it would at least allow some competition to bloom. Now health insurance companies only need to please HR directors & unions – they have little if any reason to provide exemplary service to their “members.”
How many people are uninsured in the state of Kentucky?