U.S. Health Insurance Analysis: The Uninsured
Background
For much of its history, America was essentially made up of an uninsured population. Many companies hesitated to provide insurance because of the uncertainty of controlling costs. The Blue Cross/Blue Shield program was the first to attempt to tackle this issue. However in 1941, fewer than 10 million Americans were covered and most remained uninsured, paying their health expenses out of pocket (Barr, 2011). As of July 2017 the uninsured rate went up to 11.7% from 10.9% in the fourth quarter of 2016 (Luhby, 2017) and even with the individual mandate, there are still 24 million uninsured Americans. In the 1960s the two major events that impacted health policy were 1) expanding health …show more content…
From the payer’s perspective, including the uninsured equates to reduced profits. As many of them have pre-existing conditions and continual high medical costs, the insurance pool shifts to a risky and costly one. As for employers, providing affordable health insurance employees keeps their workforce healthy and productive. However, due to increasing costs many small companies find it increasingly difficult to provide insurance. Without the help from their employees, many workers are unable to buy health plans on their own. Without insurance, beneficiaries most often led a lower quality of life. As health care services have outrageous prices, many of them almost never visit a physician/hospital unless absolutely necessary. Though most people don’t realize, one requires medical care at some point in their life. Therefore when they actually receive care (without insurance), it often leads to medical debts and opportunity costs of housing, healthy eating, social life etc. Medical debt contribute to 50% of bankruptcies in our. The government is affected greatly with the uninsured population. Many individuals remain uninsured due to the high costs. Some, even though they have insurance, hesitate to receive medical care due to costly deductibles and co pays. Medicare and Medicaid receive a large number of these individuals who delay care to the very last minute and requires costly services. The financial burden on the government increases with increasing amount of population without health care insurance. Additionally, the health outcomes in our country are worse compared to other industrialized countries because of the lack of continuum of care and high costs in the country. Hospitals, especially non-profit hospitals often have marginal operating profits. Therefore, the increment of the uninsured population even by a small percentage has a huge impact and determines their yearly profits and losses. Though the ACA