Health Insurance as a Tool, Not a Solution
It is the most visible failing of the healthcare system – 47 plus million Americans without health insurance. Given the soaring cost of care, insurance is the only true bulwark against the financial risks associated with interacting with our healthcare system, especially in the event of a chronic condition or accident. This is current prevailing domain of health insurance: to protect our interests and assets in the event of illness or trauma. However, in discussions over health care reform the role of insurance in our system can become tainted by the politics of both the left and the right. For one, health insurance can be seen as an all encompassing savior to the nation’s healthcare woes, for the other it is viewed only as a means of exacerbating existing problems.
The truth is somewhere in between. Providing universal health insurance cannot alone solve the American health care crisis, nor can it be disregarded as a central and necessary component to solving it. Whether one views health care as an economic imperative or a moral one, it is how we are insuring people that matters, in other words we need to focus on how insurance influences the American people’s health status and interactions with the health care system. By focusing on these true ends to healthcare reform, we start to arrive at the necessity of addressing the health care’s systemic curses of rising costs, reduced quality and misaligned incentives. Reforming health insurance can be a powerful tool for addressing these very issues.
If we wanted too, it would be very cheap to insure everyone – we just give everybody a $25,000 deductible and barebones coverage and there you have it, 100% universal coverage! But what good would this really do? Would it provide financial security in an accident (how many of us have 25 g’s laying around)? Would it alleviate the tremendous costs of seeking the care needed to manage a chronic condition? Would it incentivize people to get regular checkups? Would it improve quality all while stemming the tide of health care cost inflation? In fact, many of the current stakeholders(including insurance companies and hospitals) would love to see a spirited drive for universal coverage - as long as someone else is footing the bill (government, businesses, individuals etc..). Covering everyone without regard for what that coverage does and how it improves people's healthcare, is tantamount to just pouring more cash into a broken system.
On the other hand, disregarding the need to cover everyone by politicizing calls for universal coverage can also damage efforts aimed at addressing the roots of the health care crisis. Aside from its ability to prevent the financial ruin of patients in the event of a problem, health insurance can be structured to influence the various domains within the healthcare system. For example, health insurance is essential to reducing the number of emergency room visits, the most costly way of utilizing the health care system. Insurance is also a crucial factor in the management as well as the prevention of disease and it should be structured in a way to provide the right kind of care and incentives to reduce the risks for incidence of catastrophic episodes. We can already observe the well known power of insurance reimbursements in impacting the kind of care that is delivered, in turn suggesting that insurance can play a role in monitoring quality and effectiveness. Insuring all Americans can not only contribute to containing the cost of healthcare, but it can be also used as leverage for driving systemic change. These ideas are nothing new and should be inserted into the debate regarding how to address the problem of the uninsured.
In sum, it is not enough to merely cover all Americans; doing so without also addressing how healthcare is delivered and paid for signals little more than another incremental political victory. That said, universal health insurance is also an important element in building a system that promotes health, prosperity and opportunity for every American and the nation as a whole. We must resist the temptation to view reforms aimed at the uninsured in adversarial terms. In order to make this system more effective and sustainable, the pursuit for universal coverage must go hand in hand with other reforms aimed at driving quality, transparency and prevention.
- By SHOUTAmerica
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asmi123
Health insurance is designed to protect you against having to pay large medical bills by offering coverage for a range of medical procedures and treatments.By contrast, Life Insurance is principally designed to pay out a lump sum in the event of your death.
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Health care costs seem to be climbing with lightening speed in many locations around the world. In addition, the costs associated with medical insurance are also on a similar upswing. If you are like most people, while you understand the importance of health insurance, you nonetheless want to find out what you can do to contain and even reduce the costs associated with medical insurance.
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If you’ve ever been sick or injured, you know how important it is to have health insurance coverage. Health insurance pays for things big and small, from a lab test that might cost $75 to a hospital stay for major surgery that could cost thousands of dollars. It gives you peace of mind of knowing that no matter what kind of care or procedure you or a family member might require, you won’t have to worry about shouldering the cost on your own. As important as health insurance is, it can also be very confusing. To make smart health insurance choices, you need a basic understanding of all the key terms, acronyms and concepts. Click here for more information.
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Health care costs seem to be climbing with lightening speed in many locations around the world. In addition, the costs associated with medical insurance are also on a similar upswing. If you are like most people, while you understand the importance of health insurance, you nonetheless want to find out what you can do to contain and even reduce the costs associated with medical insurance.
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The Department of Insurance can also handle complaints if you feel you are being treated unfairly in your search for insurance coverage.
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If US government is sincere and aim nothing but the best among the people they should make the health insurance to be affordable one. That’s the least that they can do for now. If you’re one of the 47 million Americans without health insurance, finding a place for insurance in your budget may seem like an insurmountable task. Options do exist, however, and the expenses of the options must be weighted against the cost of an unpredictable medical emergency - a $ 50,000 surgery is harder to cope with than a couple hundred bucks a month. One option for lowering your costs is to consider a high-deductible health plan, which will give you a smaller monthly payment in exchange for a lower level of coverage. It’s not ideal – you’ll have to pay out of pocket for any doctor’s appointments or tests until you reach your deductible – but it will prevent major medical expenses from causing you to go bankrupt.
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Health insurance is something that concerns the lives of very person and good health insurance plans can help you save on the high costs of medical attention you require.
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