Politicians are struggling to spin health insurance as one of their platforms. The news media networks, MSN, FOX News all play it up or down, depending on their point of view. While there are many ideas about health care, the fact remains that the struggle for affordable health care in America real, and it is getting worse every year.
One of the biggest myths about health care is that most of those without insurance are illegal immigrants, or are unemployed. This simply isn’t true.
The National Health Care Coalition has found that nearly eighty per cent of the uninsured in America are citizens, and eighty per cent of those come from working class families. During 2006, over 90 percent of the population or nearly five million people, were without any kind of health insurance for at least part of the year. Now that the unemployment figures are higher, that number is also larger.
America is a world leader. Why is nothing being done to guarantee health care to our working families? If you are working just to get by, then you usually make too much to qualify for Medicaid. Staying at home and drawing welfare so that you can have health insurance doesn’t make any sense to most people, and budget problems at the state level is making that harder as well.
Young adults to the age of twenty-four probably don’t give health care a second thought. They are the population group that is most likely to be without a health plan. There are families that earn over $50,000 per year and also don’t have insurance, even when it is offered by their employer, because they just cannot afford the premiums. If a family earning that kind of money cannot afford health insurance, how can a family who earning half of that be expect to pay for a health plan?
The trouble is that being uninsured means that serious illnesses may go undiagnosed or untreated. Even something like the flu can cause complications and even death if left untreated.
Someone without health insurance is more likely to end up hospitalized for an avoidable condition. The cost of that stay will be around $3000. If that person had been seen a doctor, the condition could have been caught and treated before it became a problem. Hospitals treat patients without insurance and it costs nearly $34million dollars every year. That cost is added back to the paying public through higher hospital bills. This increases insurance rates forces more people to go without.
Affordable health insurance in America needs to be talked about not only during election years. We all need to focus on it and fix it now, realistically and fairly. Health insurance should not be a luxury, or an option for a select few. It should be affordable for all.
By: Karen Enden
Archive for January, 2010
Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance in California
January 30th, 2010
Insurance is the present day need of the modern society. Employer-sponsored health insurance is one amongst the insurance schemes in which the employees’ are benefited. It ensures that the employee’s health is protected and the employee avails a sustainable growth. A common reason why the scheme is being offered is on a general concern of the employees’ and their families’ health and welfare, employee productivity, retention and recruitment. On an average, the average cost of insurance that an employee avails is three thousand dollars a year.
Any small business, defined as 2 to 50 employees, must be offered the similar health insurance for small businesses that is offered to all other small businesses. It is impossible to deny coverage to any concern which pays their premium, doing business for at least two months, offering the coverage to all its employees including the part-time workers. It is also the responsibility of the insurance company to inform the minimal number of employees allowed for a plan, so that they have the right to withdraw the amount. The insurance maybe cancelled if the minimal number of employees did not participate.
Any employee avails insurance based on his average age and location. The employer sponsored plans were forced to increase their premiums to keep up with these increasing costs, and there was only so much of it that could be passed on to the employee. The benefit the health insurance expected is closely related with the status of the employee. The unions in companies mandated that health insurance should be provided, while there was no demand from non union companies. This lead to a bad speculation about those companies among the employees. So, employers were forced to offer this as they had to struggle for the best employees. Plans have also been proposed by politicians that would make employers mandatory to offer insurance plans for their employees or to contribute to national plan on a whole that would be modeled after Medicare without any age limitations.
A recent survey found that nearly half of the small business employers in California don’t provide health insurance for their employees. Adding to this, according to a study released by the University of California-Los Angeles, Center for Health Policy Research, there is a decline in the employer-sponsored health insurance coverage scheme from 56.4% in 2001 to 54.3% in 2005,Los Angeles Times dated 11/07/07.The report also stated that 80% of the uninsured employees either work for employers who did not offer them the health insurance scheme, or were not entitled to receive the health benefits. Even more drastic was 20% did not even enroll them in the available insurance plans.
The study also further reported the increase in the premium family coverage by 66% through employer-sponsored plans from 2001 to 2005.Although there was a significant amount of residents availing the benefit of employer-based coverage proportion of Californians who have not insured declined from 21.9% in 2001 to 20% in 2005. The study features the decline to enrollment increases in medicals, the state’s Medicaid program; Healthy-Families; and county-based insurance programs. According to Times, about one in three California children are insured through such programs. The report also stated that 63% of uninsured Californians were U.S. citizens, 15% non citizens having green cards and 22%of the states’ uninsured residents were undocumented immigrants.
Also on the same day the Center on Policy Initiatives released a report stating that about 8.7 million of California’s 17.3 million adult workers do not have employer-based health insurance and 2.9 million do not have any insurance. According to the study, people with high wages were more likely to have the health coverage than the employees with low wages. As a major requirement, Health insurance for employees makes financial sense, as well as motivates employees, keeps them happy and reduces absenteeism.
Employer-sponsored health insurance is in crisis, only informed people shall be benefiting themselves and bring benefit to the country. It is high time all these setbacks are dealt with the perfect plan and strategy.
By: Sam Rosy
Health Insurance Advice Should Be Balanced
January 28th, 2010
It is highly likely that you are completely overwhelmed by the vast amount of information regarding health policy. Advice is what you need to bypass all the data that is not applicable to you. What you need to know are the main health insurance plans and also which are the cheapest. In order to save you time and money you need a one stop website that will provide you with all the information you need. There are many sites on the Internet with complicated information. Make sure you use a site that is easy to use and easy to understand.
Health insurance advice should simplify the process for you. What you want is an easy online application process that allows you to receive quotes and put you in touch with insurance companies in your own area. You also want to read up on relevant information about the health plans currently in use. You want to match the plan that is best suited to your needs. Every client has different requirements. A single individual has different needs to a couple. Families with growing children need to take into account all the different illnesses and unexpected scrapes, bruises and broken bones that are normal to childhood.
Getting health insurance advice in order to get the right policy and plan is essential. If you get a plan that is not right for your needs you could end up not having enough cover. On the other hand, you could also be left with extra cover that is expensive but you don’t need. Health insurance cover must be balanced with your lifestyle and requirements. For example, a family needs the assurance that all childhood illnesses like mumps and measles are covered. Adults need to know that afflictions such as heart disease and diabetes are covered.
By: Andy J. Hughes