There is no better title.
Problems of uninsured directly affect all Americans
Tue Feb 24, 6:40 AM ET
By Mary Sue Coleman
…If you have a good health insurance plan, you may think the problems of the uninsured do not affect you directly. Think again. One of the most insidious effects of the large uninsured population in our nation is that it wears down the medical system's ability to provide health care services to all Americans, even those with insurance.
More people, less access
Cities with large populations of uninsured residents, such as Atlanta and Detroit, risk losing doctors, on-call coverage by specialists and health facilities and hospitals because of the uncompensated costs of caring for the uninsured. Big urban areas are especially at risk: A quarter of Los Angeles' 10 million people are uninsured. As a result, one of six public hospitals has shut its doors, as have 11 of 18 public health clinics. [P6: emphasis added]
Our committee devoted three years to preparing its study of the full costs and consequences of the uninsured. We based our findings and recommendations on the best research available.
About 43 million Americans, the vast majority of whom are working, go without health insurance for at least an entire year. This number has continued to increase during the past 25 years. In addition, more and more employers are limiting their offerings of coverage or shifting premium increases to their employees.
Poor health's high costs
The story of the family dealing with a son's motorcycle accident illustrates that, as a society, we have not accounted for the substantial costs of failing to provide health insurance for all Americans. If the uninsured had the same health care as their insured fellow citizens, the nation's total health bill of nearly $1.2 trillion likely would increase only 3%-6%, or approximately $34 billion to $69 billion annually. But without some form of universal health coverage, the nation's economic losses due to poorer health, impaired child development, earlier deaths, lost job productivity and financial stress on families ranges from $65 billion to $130 billion annually, our committee estimates. [P6: emphasis added]
Posted by P6 at February 27, 2004 01:38 AM
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