Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

Hidden Dangers of Inadequate Health Insurance, Pt.5 – What should we do?

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This should serve as a warning to us all, when we try to decipher all the rhetoric coming from Congress and the presidential nominees concerning health insurance. Congressional sway is very significant here and much more immediate than any hope that might come from the nominees. Track your congressmen closely to see what they’re doing for you in terms of health insurance/care. By far, most of the adverse legislation takes place within the cracks, so as not to attract public attention until “The deed is done”. Automatic vetoes to SCHIP requests, denying health insurance to children in medical need has been standard procedure for years now, by the Bush administration.

Most of the health insurance focus today concerns “personal responsibility or controlling costs or mandating that everyone buys insurance,” as the Zanesville article phrases it. While these may all be noble and good, they don’t directly address this growing concern. When they propose ‘affordable health insurance”, are they actually shuttling more people into the, already burgeoning, ‘underinsured’ segment’? The 25 million-strong underinsured segment could easily double in size by just getting health insurance for just half of the uninsured segment, while making many of them worse off in the process. Some may be moved ‘from the pan into the fire’.

We haven’t even addressed the major tendency of this segment to forego, both needed and preventive medical care. This same Commonwealth Fund study also reveals that over half of those with inadequate health insurance were skipping needed care alone. This proves to be not only deadly to many victims, but also becomes a major financial and emotional burden on the majority of Americans, in some way. Perhaps the best conclusion is provided by the Zanesville article when they say, “Addressing this issue may require more government intervention. It may mean dictating how private-sector health plans are designed. It may require the government itself to provide decent insurance for more Americans.“