Ways to Overcome America's Health Insurance Crisis
Healthcare Crisis in America 2020
The lack of health insurance coverage for more than 41 million Americans is one of the most pressing issues in the United States. Most older Americans are covered through Medicare, and nearly two-thirds of non-aged Americans receive health insurance through employer-sponsored plans, but employers provide compensation.
Many workers and their families remain uninsured because they are either absent or cannot afford the cost of compensation. Here in Medicaid, Iowa, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) or HAWK-I can help close some gaps between low-income children and their parents, but the scope of these programs is limited. increase.
As a result, millions of uninsured Americans face adverse health effects due to medical delays and abandonment, making it a national priority to extend insurance to uninsured people. It has become. -(Information obtained from kff.org)
The number of people who have to go without health insurance is nothing but a crisis in this country today. Over the past few decades, we have been in a vicious circle where health insurance premiums have become so high that even middle-class families cannot afford them. As a result, uninsured people will not be able to cover their health care costs, often leading to financial devastation of their families, continued loss of income to the medical community, and pushing up the cost of health care. Higher, and eventually back to the insurance company, you need to raise your health insurance premiums to cover the rise in medical costs.
Many proposals have been made by politicians on both sides of the island, from the socialization of medical care comparable to the Canadian system to the approval of medical savings accounts and the crackdown on frivolous proceedings against the medical community.
Many of these proposals have their good points, but they also bring great mistakes as well as their good points. For example; a socialized national health program eliminates the need for health insurance all at once and costs are covered by taxes, but in theory it doesn't seem to be a bad idea. However, the failure of this system includes a shortage of new doctors who are willing to enter the field due to the inevitable decline in income, while demand increases due to lack of personal responsibility.
In short, if people don't have to worry about deductions or out-of-pocket costs that usually prevent people from seeking treatment for minor things, they will simply go to the doctor every time they have pain or pain. So now that everyone has an appointment and at the same time has lost a doctor due to lack of incentives, there is a line waiting for people with major health problems.
The current fighting cry by the Republican Bush administration is to push HSAs (Health Savings Accounts). With your insurance premium every month. All money withdrawn from a savings account for eligible medical expenses is "tax exempt" and unlike the flex spending account that many are familiar with in employer-based planning, you are Don't lose the money you put in your account Don't use it.
Basically, if you've never used that money in your savings account, you can withdraw or roll over to another vehicle when you can use the 62 1/2 penalty for retirement for free. I can do it. This is a viable option for some people, but in many cases the premiums for these plans are still high and enough if large-scale treatment is needed in the first few years of the policy. The problem remains that there is no such thing. A savings account helps fill the gap and the person is responsible for most of the cost.
Now I have realized that I believe it is one of the biggest problems from a health insurance agency's point of view. It means that people with existing health cannot get compensation. From the number of people contacting my office for health insurance coverage, about half of them are in a health condition where the insurance company refuses to apply for that person or is basically a modified rider.
I have to say that it is in. Excludes compensation for all claims related to that condition. An example of a condition that I constantly encounter is high blood pressure or high blood pressure. This condition can result in the company rejecting the application all at once if other factors are involved, but most commonly it is a correction exclusion rider.
You might think this isn't a big deal, but after all, blood pressure medications are the only thing they have to pay from their pockets, but what many people aren't aware of is this rider. Excludes anything This can be considered part of this condition, including heart attacks, strokes, and aneurysms, all of which result in enormous out-of-pocket claims. Consider the fact that my dad recently had double bypass surgery. As a result, the final bill was about $ 150,000. This full amount would have had to be taken out of his pocket if he had a high blood pressure rider in his health insurance. With a modest income of $ 40,000 a year, this would have ruined him financially.
So how do you fix this problem? Obviously, the proposals so far have been flawed from the beginning, and even if one of these plans gains the support of the American people, the bill will never be passed simply because of political conflict. One wants to privatize healthcare and the other wants to socialize it. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, as explained earlier. We seem destined for this problem, there is no real idea or light for the tunnel, right? That may not be the case, but let's talk about a client who was in my office a few years ago.
A young woman came in wanting to compare her health insurance plans and see if she and her family had choices. She had several children, she was using Title 19 Medicaid, and she was paid by the state to attend college.
She recently graduated from college and got a job in the local school system, but for some reason she wasn't covered by health insurance benefits. Apparently, she still couldn't afford $ 500 or $ 600 a month for her plans, so she went back to her aid office to explain her situation. They eventually worked with us to find an acceptable private health insurance plan and refunded her a percentage of the costs I didn't even know was possible!
This made me think, think about how many people can get compensation if they can get a refund of the percentage of premiums according to their income by the government. For example; suppose a young couple in their twenties and one child have a family income of $ 25,000 and a deductible health insurance plan of $ 500 with an average premium of $ 450. As an example, suppose the government decides that a family of three with an annual income of $ 25,000 will be reimbursed for 50% of their premiums and that the actual cost of the family will be $ 225 per month. This is now an affordable premium enough for families to consider.
By integrating this private insurance and government support, we can take advantage of both. Of course, the next question goes to costs, how much does this cost American taxpayers and how much does this raise taxes? I don't think the taxpayer's burden is that great.
The reasons are as follows. First, we will significantly reduce the number of uninsured people who cannot afford medical expenses and reduce the total. Medical bills. Second, the number of people forced into bankruptcy due to medical costs resulting from catastrophic medical conditions that are not covered by health insurance and driven by Medicaid Title 19 assistance will be significantly reduced. This is important considering that when someone enters Medicaid, they are basically receiving medical care that is 100% covered by the government.
Therefore, there is no incentive not to seek treatment for mild or non-existent conditions. On the contrary, many conditions that were not caught before they became serious because they did not seek treatment because they were not covered by insurance are now caught before they turn into catastrophic claims. Finally, this has already been done if the government has allocated a certain amount to cover claims by people who have existing conditions that can eliminate the exclusion or decline of existing health problems. HIPIOWA Iowa Comprehensive Plan to insure residents of Iowa who cannot be insured elsewhere.
You might sit there and think that this is all wishful thinking and these ideas can never be implemented, but all of these ideas have already been implemented. The problem is that only some states have some programs, and even most health insurance agencies don't know that some low-income households can get a refund of their health insurance premiums. is. I believe that if all of these programs were standardized and implemented at a nationally well-known level, it would have a major impact on the country's uninsured population.
Right now, I'm not pretending to know what income level and what redemption level is needed, but I know that anything is better than nothing. In my opinion, this is the best midpoint we can find. Democrats should be pleased with the socialized reimbursement aspect, and Republicans should be pleased that medical care remains privatized and that this solution is more likely to gain party support.
I faxed this idea to a few senators and members of the House, but I knew enough about how they were involved in health care and that no one actually read my letter. I've always received the same type of standard response that I'm working hard to find a solution. The only way to make these ideas publicly available is for you to read this and tell others about it by reviewing, emailing, or linking your website to this web page.
The more topics you have than these ideas, the more considerations you deserve. If you or I ask you to find a solution, you can put enough stress on the politician to get something done. The number of uninsured Americans will only increase, medical costs will only increase, and health insurance costs will only increase if something is not done now! Until then, the only thing I can do as a health insurance agency is to compare all the options out there and present the smaller of all the evils. In many cases, the selected option goes without coverage.