The Uninsured: Coverage for a Whole Nation
Anita Leblanc
About 41% of middle or low income families and
individuals currently living in America are not covered by a health care plan.
Overall, this means that around 47 million citizens in America alone are living
without any type of health care coverage (Study, 2006). This number has
jumped tremendously within the past decade. Possible reasons for this
massive percentage range from prices that are unaffordable to individuals and
families who are financially unqualified. Why is the United States lagging
behind many developed countries in providing its citizens with sufficient health
coverage? The answer is that many developed countries provide various
public and private insurance companies to accommodate citizens regardless of
financial state, work status, race, or age. Compared to the constantly
increasing uninsured rate of citizens in the United States, many developed
countries such as Canada and Germany seem to be more successful in helping their
citizens find a suitable health care program.
A current definition of “health insurance” is an
insurance plan that assists in paying most medical costs related to doctor
visits, hospitalization, prescription drugs, and other medical services
(Nielson, 2007). One is able to become considered for a particular health
care plan based on financial state, age, disability situations and other
factors.
The two main categories of health insurance plans are
private and public insurance companies. Private insurance companies can be
obtained for full-time employees and unemployed citizens. Employers have an
employee health plan that can accommodate just the employee himself/herself or
could also accommodate some members of the employee’s family. Some private
companies can also be accessed by individuals outside the work force.
However, these private plans do not consider applicants that present any sign of
diseases, such as cancer, or life threatening illnesses. Individuals with
ailments indicate that there will possibly be a need of expensive treatment that
will in turn require most of the financial coverage to come from the insurance
company (Nielson, 2007). Private companies can also provide for
individuals and for most of an individual’s family. On the other hand, public
insurance plans are usually insurance companies that are funded by the
government. Such programs target a specific group of people. These
programs range from Medicaid, Medicare, to SCHIP. Medicaid is a program
that aims toward individuals that are of low-income or needy and offer coverage
for children, the elderly, and the disabled (Public Health). Medicare is a
program specifically for the elderly over 65 years of age or for elders under 65
with certain disabilities (Castro, 1991). SCHIP is a state program whose
intention is to cover infants, children, and teenagers whose families are not
eligible for other insurance programs, such as Medicaid (Public Heath).
Clearly, many programs can or can not provide health
coverage for a particular situation. With these available programs, why is
there such a high percentage of citizens in the United States not covered by a
health program? Although the main problem reported by several studies over
the past decade suggests that prices are the reason Americans are not covered by
any health programs, several other problems affect citizens. A recent
study attempts to answer this troublesome question. According to DeVoe
(2007), many Americans face common problems preventing them from receiving
health care. Some problems are a shortage of the health program’s
requirements, an individual’s additional need basis, and unaffordable costs to
low income families (DeVoe, 2007). It was also discovered in another study
that some Americans do not feel the need to spend additional monthly charges on
health insurance (Herrick, 2001). For most of the private and government
programs a certain requirement, such as amount of income, needs to be met in
order to be eligible for coverage. If a person exceeds or is beneath the
policy’s requirements, the individual is not eligible. Also, an individual
cannot want additional services provided to them than what is stated in the
program’s policy. Otherwise, the individual will not be considered for
that particular program. Some Americans do not feel like health coverage
would be beneficial to them at any time. These individuals refuse to be
insured by any company. Most of these individuals do not see a doctor on a
regular basis, do not take prescription drugs, and do not have any
life-threatening illnesses or diseases. The main problem affecting the majority
of the American population seems to be the price of monthly coverage.
Depending on how many individuals in a family health program are being insured,
the price range for coverage could be significantly high or low. These
prices typically increase in relation to the high quality services that the
individual demands.
Since the majority of Americans are in the middle and
lower income brackets, currently high prices and deductibles for health
insurance should not make coverage impossible. It is proven that United
States citizens spend more money a year on health coverage than most other
countries. The reason for this is that many countries around the world
have health insurance companies, both private and public, that provide most if
not all of their citizens with sufficient health coverage. Most of these
programs have no particular target group, but some programs do aim towards lower
income families or individuals. Examples of some countries that have a
successful rate of insured citizens include France, Australia, Germany, and
Canada.
France has had many conflicts with health services
and health insurance companies throughout its history. In the medical
profession, many doctors perceive themselves as independent professionals.
The fear that they will eventually be inspected or taken into governmental
control lays on almost every doctor’s mind (Glasier, 2000). Currently in
France, every citizen is covered. Companies are not biased towards
particular financial brackets. Like most other countries, the unemployed,
disabled, and elderly are completely covered by governmental programs in which a
monthly deductible is taken from checks received (Glasier, 2000). Other
individuals are either covered by government funded programs or by private
companies of their choice.
In Australia, many citizens are becoming covered by
their own choice of private companies. Although Australia persuades its
citizens to benefit from private plans, the governmental company, Medicare,
insures most individuals not covered by private companies (Nielson, 2007).
At a particular time in Australia’s history, more citizens chose to become
covered by Medicare rather than by private companies (Nielson, 2007).
When Germany decided to create systems that helped
citizens based on disability or unemployment issues, and create various health
services, the idea of private and charitable services spread to most other
countries (Glasier, 2000). Currently all workers, farmers, and employees
must pay their employers taxes that are applied to a sickness fund. These
funds are able to fully cover all individuals in the employee’s family (Glasier,
2000). While individuals in American struggle for coverage, Germany
ensures that all disabled, elder, and unemployed citizens are fully covered.
Germany’s democracy has little to no effect on private and public companies.
The changes that develop within these private and public companies are usually
influenced by governmental officials. Most changes occur when a new
individual is elected to an office (Glasier, 2000).
In Canada every citizen is fully covered by
Medicare. This program is able to pay all bills related to medical service
through different federal sources using tax money (Nielson, 2007).
Considering that all citizens are covered by the government, some Canadians do
seek out private company coverage in addition to Medicare. These private
companies are limited in the type of coverage that can be offered. The
coverage provided cannot correlate with the benefits from government funded
programs.
The current 2008 presidential candidates are also
looking for potential methods to relieve the United States from paying high
insurance prices. One of the Democratic Party candidates, Barack Obama,
guarantees Americans that no one will be excluded from receiving coverage based
on current or previous illnesses. This new national coverage would insure
everyone. Obama plans to create a program known as National Heath
Insurance Exchange. This program will also allow individuals to purchase
insurance through private companies (Health Care, 2008). The private
companies’ policy will be required to have most or all of the same services
provided by the new plan that Obama is envisioning. The second Democratic
candidate, Hilary Clinton, proposes to create a plan called The American Health
Choices Plan. This plan is expected to supply currently insured Americans
with new services to aid with their previous coverage. Americans will be
able to continue in their current plans and have lower premiums and advanced
service quality (Hilary, 2008). The Republican candidate, John McCain,
also desires full coverage to all Americans. His main focus is to get all
insurance prices controlled. McCain also wants the Medicaid and Medicare
programs to provide coverage just for retired citizens (On the Issues, 2008).
Baffling enough, the health care system in the United
States seems to be unorganized compared to the previously mentioned countries.
Although, there are several government programs in the United States, most of
these target a particular social or financial bracket allowing no consideration
towards unqualified individuals if the program’s standards are not entirely met.
It would definitely benefit the United States if an example was taken from
Canada. A potential path that this country could take would be to have one
program (funded by the government) that is able to accommodate every individual
by having a monthly deductible taken from checks. In relation to this,
there could be a few private organizations that are able to complement the
government funded coverage with services not provided through the program.
Using this method would allow all citizens to be fully covered, decrease health
care prices, possibly increase the fitness rate among the population, and
potentially decrease the death rate throughout the country.
References
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