Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

Billions on Public Health for Full-time Workers, Pt3 -- Why is this?

A recent study by Glied and Mahato, found that in 2003 one-third of full-time workers earning $9.80 per hour or less (the lower 20th percentile of wages) were without health insurance for that full year. This was an increase of 9 percentage points since 1996. That study illustrated "The Widening Health Care Gap Between High- and Low-Wage Workers".  It showed that, “in addition to being less likely to have health insurance through their jobs than higher-wage workers, low-wage workers were less likely to have a regular doctor, to visit a doctor when they are sick, or to get preventive care such as blood pressure checks”. This reveals an ever-widening gap between the “have”s and the “have-not”s concerning health insurance based upon wages from 1996 to 2003. Those with higher-wages enjoyed substantial gains in preventive care services, while the lower-paid made only modest gains or even suffered declines in preventive care. Not surprisingly, preventive spending and prescription drugs also created another large gap between high- and low-wage workers.

Author, professor and department chairperson Sherry Glied, of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health explains: "Without insurance coverage, people don't get the care they need when they are sick, and the preventive care they need to keep them from getting sick in the first place". "When private employer-sponsored coverage declines, public health insurance and uncompensated care only fill part of the gap. We need expanded health insurance coverage to ensure that everyone has access to the benefits of health care."