Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

America’s Destitute, Pt.6 -- Some answers, some hope.

Previous…

As for public subsidized health insurance, Ms. Hoffman goes on to say that the last ten years have been decidedly different than they would have been. A vast amount of children have been spared from a much worse health insurance/care outcome. She contends that similar health insurance/care results could have been attained for adults, as well, when she says "We have managed to put a dent in the uninsured problem for children through expansion of public programs. Those same programs have not expanded for adults." So here is the problem and answer to the millions of destitute without health insurance.

The last category to be treated here is the growing plight of the ‘under-insured’. Unfortunately, this category has not been adequately addressed by any of the studies above. It requires a much more comprehensive approach then just ‘yes’ or ‘no’. There is no simple approach. A large number of guidelines and criteria must be collectively defined and exhaustively assessed. Like: What is “adequate health insurance”? How does healthcare compare with paying other bills? How great of an impact is foregoing treatment because of no health insurance? What about catastrophes? Bankruptcy? – and on and on. What can be gleaned from the CDC study is that 17.5% of those that were insured had elected high-deductible plans and that 17% of this same group had went with HSA’s or the like. HSAs are pre-tax flexible savings plans, only to be used for medical purposes. There have been a few comprehensive studies on the ‘under-insured’ by other groups. One of these groups is the Commonwealth Fund. Their colleagues warn us "The coverage erosion for adults with incomes 200% to 299% of poverty is now putting middle- as well as low-income families at risk." Since this serious situation more than warrants a study of its own, I recommend referencing other articles, specific to this problem like "Major 'Underinsured' Sector".