Why Healthcare Reform is
Important to You
During a
conversation with my friend
Matt, I raised the topic of the
presidential election and
healthcare reform. Matt told me
he wasn't interested. He has
great health insurance and his
family gets great care. He
believes that people who can't
“afford” insurance coverage are
just lazy and spending their
money on other things.
I
almost fell off my chair.
Later
I realized that many people
don't understand how the current
payer system impacts our health
and our wallets.
Consider this:
Among
the 47 million Americans with no
health insurance, almost 80
percent work full time,
sometimes in more than one job,
according to Families USA. They
still can't afford insurance.
Unless
there are changes to the system,
more of us will find ourselves
in that category. Each year,
insurance premiums increase more
than pay increases. Some
employers contribute, others do
not. According to AHIP,
America's Health Insurance
Plans, the cost of health
insurance premiums in 2007 for a
family in New York State
averaged more than $1,000 per
month. Co-pays, co-insurance and
out of pocket expenses were
additional.
As
more people join the ranks of
the uninsured, we all pay. We
pay through our taxes as those
with low income and the
unemployed become eligible for
state subsidized programs. As
more people lose insurance, our
taxes increase.
Those
who cannot afford insurance
often go without preventive
care, or they ignore symptoms
until it's too late. Then they
go to emergency rooms where, by
law, they can't be turned away.
At that point the cost to us is
reflected in our our premiums.
Families USA estimates that in
2005, those of us with insurance
paid an extra $922 to cover
those who don't have insurance.
I am
not advocating any specific
reform – not universal or
private payer. This is simply a
call to pay attention to the
subject as you study your
options in this next election.
Even Matt looks at the subject
of healthcare reform differently
now.
To
learn more, and find links to
the statistics above, find
information at these websites:
Find
additional, more general
resources:
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Trisha Torrey is Every Patient’s
AdvocateTM.
She offers no medical advice,
but empowers those who
want to learn more about
diagnosis and treatment options
by
providing useful tools and
resources.
