Lack of health insurance coverage for 41 million Americans is one of the most pressing problems of the nation.
While most elderly Americans have coverage through Medicare and nearly two -thirds of non-elderly Americans receive health coverage through employer-sponsored plans , many workers and their families remain uninsured because their employer does not offer coverage or who can not afford the cost of coverage.
Medicaid ( SCHIP ) health insurance program for children or HAWK -I here in Iowa help fill the gaps for low-income children and some of their parents , but the scope of these programs is limited.
As a result , millions of Americans without insurance face adverse health consequences due to delayed health care or abandoned and expand coverage to the uninsured has become a national priority.
- ( Information taken from kff.org )The number of people who are forced to go without health insurance is nothing less than a crisis in this country today . We have fallen into a vicious circle in recent decades in which health insurance premiums have become too expensive, even for a middle class family to pay.
This in turn results in the inability of the uninsured to cover medical expenses that often results in the financial ruins of the family, and in turn led to the continuing loss of income by the medical community , leading turn your cost of major medical expenses , then the bike to the insurance company which then must drive the premiums of health insurance higher to help cover the rising costs of health care .
Many proposals have been shaken by politicians on both sides of the island of socialization of care comparable to the Canadian health care system , health approve and punishment of frivolous lawsuits against medical savings accounts community . Several of these proposals have good points, but with everything that makes many points also bring significant falls .
For example , a program of national health care would eliminate the need socialized health care all together and the cost would be covered by the insurance tax , which in theory does not seem to be a bad idea. However, the falls in this system include a deficit in new doctors willing to enter the field with the inevitable decline in income while demand may increase due to lack of personal responsibility. In short , if people do not have to worry about deductibles or copays that would normally prevent the person to try minor things , they would simply go to the doctor every time they had pain or pain.
So now we have lines of people waiting for important health problems since each is a quote while we are losing doctors due to lack of motivation.The current battle cry by the republican Bush administration is to push HSA ( Health Savings Accounts ) which reduce premium by taking a health insurance plan with a high deductible cheaper with a savings account that earns tax-deferred lack of interest on the side that you contribute to along with your premiums each month.
Withdrawals from savings account for qualified medical expenses are taken " tax-free" and , unlike a flexible spending account like many people are familiar with based on employer plans , not to lose money invested in the account unused .
Basically, if you have never used some of the money in the savings account you could withdrawal or roll over another vehicle once you turn 62 1/2 without penalty to be used for retirement.
This is a viable option for some people, but for many the premiums of the plans are too expensive, and the problem is that if you need a major treatment in the early years of the policy will not have a large enough amount in the account savings to help cover the gaps left responsible for much of the cost out of pocket.Now we come to what I think is one of the biggest problems of perspective, which is the inability of people with pre -existing conditions get coverage of a health insurance agent .
Based on the number of people who contact my office for health insurance coverage , I must say that almost half of them have a health condition that either lead to an insurance company asking loss people , or after a change which basically excludes coverage for claims related to this condition.
An example of a condition such as hypertension or consistently the high blood pressure. This condition sometimes result in a company declining an application if all other factors are involved , but more generally cause a change exclusion rider .
You may think it's not as big of a deal , after all, blood pressure medicine is the only thing they have to pay out of pocket , but what many people do not realize is that this clause excludes everything that can be considered as part of this condition, including heart attacks , strokes and aneurysms that all result in a huge demand for pocket.
Consider the fact that my father had a double bypass surgery recently that ended with a final bill of about $ 150,000.
This amount should have been all out of pocket had a hypertension rider on your insurance policy , not to mention the additional cost of 2 months off of work thrown into the mix .
In a modest income of $ 40,000 per year would have ruined financially.Although , how can we solve this problem? Obviously , the proposals to date have been flawed from the beginning, and even if one of these plans has been supported by the American people opportunities that never becomes law simply by political disputes. One side wants to keep health privatized while the other wants to socialize , which , as mentioned before, both positive and negative .
It seems we are doomed to this and no real ideas or light tunnel right ? Maybe not, let me tell you about a client I had in my office a few years ago .
A young woman came in wanting to compare health insurance plans to see if there was an option for her and her family. She had several children , and had been on Title 19 Medicaid and had been going to college paid by the State . She had recently graduated from college and got a job at the local school system , but for some reason it was not eligible for Medicare .
Obviously , I still could not afford five or six hundred dollars a month for a package if it is returned to the office for help and explained the situation .
They ended up working with us to find a private doctor acceptable and a percentage of the cost reimbursed I did not even know it was possible insurance plan !It made me think , think about how many people would be able to get coverage if they could be reimbursed by the government as a percentage of the premium based on their income.
For example , take a young married couple in their 20s with a child, say his family income is $ 25,000 and the average premium for a $ 500 deductible for your health insurance plan is $ 450.
For example , say the government has determined that a family of three with an annual income of $ 25,000 will be paid 50 % of the premium cost so the real family to $ 225 per month. It is now an affordable enough premium for the family to consider.With the merger of private insurance with government assistance , you get the best of both worlds.
Of course , the next question is going to cost , how much cost to American taxpayers and how much would the tax increase ? I do not think it would cost taxpayers more than one, here is what I think: First, we would significantly reduce the number of uninsured people who can not pay for medical care ' are in turn , reduce the total cost of health care .
Second, the number of people who are forced into bankruptcy and driven to Medicaid Title 19 assistance due to medical expenses resulting from catastrophic diseases who have no health insurance coverage would be significantly reduced .
It is important to note considering that once someone is on Medicaid they are receiving health care basically 100 % covered by government to provide more incentives do not seek treatment for minor illnesses or not - exist.
On the other hand many conditions that were not caught before they become serious , because a person does not seek treatment because of not having insurance coverage now be caught before they become a catastrophic claim .
Finally, if the government has allocated a certain amount of money to help cover claims by people with pre -existing private insurance companies could do away with exclusions and low for existing health problems , which already made is that some states , such as Iowa HIPIOWA comprehensive plans which guarantees Iowans who can not get coverage elsewhere.You may be sitting there thinking that this is all just an illusion and that these ideas could never apply, but all these ideas are already underway .
The problem is that only some states do some programs and not even most health insurance agents know that some low-income families can receive a refund of the premiums for health insurance. If these programs were standardized and implemented highly publicized nationally , I think it would make a hell of a dent in the uninsured population in this country .
Now I do not pretend to know what the reimbursement levels should be for this level of income, but I know something is better than nothing , and in my opinion is the best spot we could find.
Democrats are happy with the socialized aspect of the reimbursement , and the Republicans should be happy that health remains privatized giving this solution a better chance of a neutral .I faxed this idea to several senators and congressmen but always received the same type of standard response about how they are concerned about health and work hard to find a solution knowing that even really read my letters .
The only way to get these ideas into the public domain for you reading this happen to other people by word of mouth, by email or by linking your website to this website . If you create enough buzz that these ideas would have the consideration they deserve , and if enough people like you and asked me to find a solution perhaps enough stress can be placed on the politicians something.
The number of uninsured Americans is rising, the cost of medical care is increasing, and the cost of health insurance premiums only increase if nothing is done now! Until then , all you insurance agent can do is compare all the options out there and show the lesser of all evils , which in too many cases , an option that is chosen is the biggest evil of going without coverage .
While most elderly Americans have coverage through Medicare and nearly two -thirds of non-elderly Americans receive health coverage through employer-sponsored plans , many workers and their families remain uninsured because their employer does not offer coverage or who can not afford the cost of coverage.
Medicaid ( SCHIP ) health insurance program for children or HAWK -I here in Iowa help fill the gaps for low-income children and some of their parents , but the scope of these programs is limited.
As a result , millions of Americans without insurance face adverse health consequences due to delayed health care or abandoned and expand coverage to the uninsured has become a national priority.
- ( Information taken from kff.org )The number of people who are forced to go without health insurance is nothing less than a crisis in this country today . We have fallen into a vicious circle in recent decades in which health insurance premiums have become too expensive, even for a middle class family to pay.
This in turn results in the inability of the uninsured to cover medical expenses that often results in the financial ruins of the family, and in turn led to the continuing loss of income by the medical community , leading turn your cost of major medical expenses , then the bike to the insurance company which then must drive the premiums of health insurance higher to help cover the rising costs of health care .
Many proposals have been shaken by politicians on both sides of the island of socialization of care comparable to the Canadian health care system , health approve and punishment of frivolous lawsuits against medical savings accounts community . Several of these proposals have good points, but with everything that makes many points also bring significant falls .
For example , a program of national health care would eliminate the need socialized health care all together and the cost would be covered by the insurance tax , which in theory does not seem to be a bad idea. However, the falls in this system include a deficit in new doctors willing to enter the field with the inevitable decline in income while demand may increase due to lack of personal responsibility. In short , if people do not have to worry about deductibles or copays that would normally prevent the person to try minor things , they would simply go to the doctor every time they had pain or pain.
So now we have lines of people waiting for important health problems since each is a quote while we are losing doctors due to lack of motivation.The current battle cry by the republican Bush administration is to push HSA ( Health Savings Accounts ) which reduce premium by taking a health insurance plan with a high deductible cheaper with a savings account that earns tax-deferred lack of interest on the side that you contribute to along with your premiums each month.
Withdrawals from savings account for qualified medical expenses are taken " tax-free" and , unlike a flexible spending account like many people are familiar with based on employer plans , not to lose money invested in the account unused .
Basically, if you have never used some of the money in the savings account you could withdrawal or roll over another vehicle once you turn 62 1/2 without penalty to be used for retirement.
This is a viable option for some people, but for many the premiums of the plans are too expensive, and the problem is that if you need a major treatment in the early years of the policy will not have a large enough amount in the account savings to help cover the gaps left responsible for much of the cost out of pocket.Now we come to what I think is one of the biggest problems of perspective, which is the inability of people with pre -existing conditions get coverage of a health insurance agent .
Based on the number of people who contact my office for health insurance coverage , I must say that almost half of them have a health condition that either lead to an insurance company asking loss people , or after a change which basically excludes coverage for claims related to this condition.
An example of a condition such as hypertension or consistently the high blood pressure. This condition sometimes result in a company declining an application if all other factors are involved , but more generally cause a change exclusion rider .
You may think it's not as big of a deal , after all, blood pressure medicine is the only thing they have to pay out of pocket , but what many people do not realize is that this clause excludes everything that can be considered as part of this condition, including heart attacks , strokes and aneurysms that all result in a huge demand for pocket.
Consider the fact that my father had a double bypass surgery recently that ended with a final bill of about $ 150,000.
This amount should have been all out of pocket had a hypertension rider on your insurance policy , not to mention the additional cost of 2 months off of work thrown into the mix .
In a modest income of $ 40,000 per year would have ruined financially.Although , how can we solve this problem? Obviously , the proposals to date have been flawed from the beginning, and even if one of these plans has been supported by the American people opportunities that never becomes law simply by political disputes. One side wants to keep health privatized while the other wants to socialize , which , as mentioned before, both positive and negative .
It seems we are doomed to this and no real ideas or light tunnel right ? Maybe not, let me tell you about a client I had in my office a few years ago .
A young woman came in wanting to compare health insurance plans to see if there was an option for her and her family. She had several children , and had been on Title 19 Medicaid and had been going to college paid by the State . She had recently graduated from college and got a job at the local school system , but for some reason it was not eligible for Medicare .
Obviously , I still could not afford five or six hundred dollars a month for a package if it is returned to the office for help and explained the situation .
They ended up working with us to find a private doctor acceptable and a percentage of the cost reimbursed I did not even know it was possible insurance plan !It made me think , think about how many people would be able to get coverage if they could be reimbursed by the government as a percentage of the premium based on their income.
For example , take a young married couple in their 20s with a child, say his family income is $ 25,000 and the average premium for a $ 500 deductible for your health insurance plan is $ 450.
For example , say the government has determined that a family of three with an annual income of $ 25,000 will be paid 50 % of the premium cost so the real family to $ 225 per month. It is now an affordable enough premium for the family to consider.With the merger of private insurance with government assistance , you get the best of both worlds.
Of course , the next question is going to cost , how much cost to American taxpayers and how much would the tax increase ? I do not think it would cost taxpayers more than one, here is what I think: First, we would significantly reduce the number of uninsured people who can not pay for medical care ' are in turn , reduce the total cost of health care .
Second, the number of people who are forced into bankruptcy and driven to Medicaid Title 19 assistance due to medical expenses resulting from catastrophic diseases who have no health insurance coverage would be significantly reduced .
It is important to note considering that once someone is on Medicaid they are receiving health care basically 100 % covered by government to provide more incentives do not seek treatment for minor illnesses or not - exist.
On the other hand many conditions that were not caught before they become serious , because a person does not seek treatment because of not having insurance coverage now be caught before they become a catastrophic claim .
Finally, if the government has allocated a certain amount of money to help cover claims by people with pre -existing private insurance companies could do away with exclusions and low for existing health problems , which already made is that some states , such as Iowa HIPIOWA comprehensive plans which guarantees Iowans who can not get coverage elsewhere.You may be sitting there thinking that this is all just an illusion and that these ideas could never apply, but all these ideas are already underway .
The problem is that only some states do some programs and not even most health insurance agents know that some low-income families can receive a refund of the premiums for health insurance. If these programs were standardized and implemented highly publicized nationally , I think it would make a hell of a dent in the uninsured population in this country .
Now I do not pretend to know what the reimbursement levels should be for this level of income, but I know something is better than nothing , and in my opinion is the best spot we could find.
Democrats are happy with the socialized aspect of the reimbursement , and the Republicans should be happy that health remains privatized giving this solution a better chance of a neutral .I faxed this idea to several senators and congressmen but always received the same type of standard response about how they are concerned about health and work hard to find a solution knowing that even really read my letters .
The only way to get these ideas into the public domain for you reading this happen to other people by word of mouth, by email or by linking your website to this website . If you create enough buzz that these ideas would have the consideration they deserve , and if enough people like you and asked me to find a solution perhaps enough stress can be placed on the politicians something.
The number of uninsured Americans is rising, the cost of medical care is increasing, and the cost of health insurance premiums only increase if nothing is done now! Until then , all you insurance agent can do is compare all the options out there and show the lesser of all evils , which in too many cases , an option that is chosen is the biggest evil of going without coverage .