Affordable
health insurance is quite frankly health insurance
that everyone can afford, despite their age, gender,
ethnicity, and income levels. Many refer to such as
universal health care, which defines a system whereas
everyone in a country is covered for free. The concept
of affordable health insurance, however, doesn't necessarily
mean that civilians don't have to pay anything, but
that they pay what they reasonably can.
Ironically,
nearly every healthcare company in the United States
claims to offer affordable health insurance. But the
question remains: Affordable to who? Sometimes the
monthly premium can be reasonable for most families
to pay, but there are strings attached. Those strings
include high deductables, high emergency room fees,
high co-pays for medicines and doctors visits, and
limited coverage for surgeries and operations. |
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Why
do so many not have insurance?
Millions
don't have the proper health coverage, mainly because their
place of employment doesn't offer it. It
is estimated that 266,000 companies dropped their health
care coverage between the year 2000-2005, and 90 percent
of those firms were small businesses. Many of these
companies cited rapidly rising health insurance premiums
as their reason for doing so, and they were right. The average
annual increase in inflation has been 2.5 percent, while
health insurance premiums for small firms have escalated
an average of 12 percent annually.
The
companies that do offer health insurance to their employees,
simply pass on the increase in premiums to them. The employees
get to a point whereas they simply can’t afford to
have insurance. This forces them to look elsewhere, and
if they can't find it - they are pretty much on their own.
This is happening nationwide, not just with private corporations,
but with local and federal government agencies and major
non-profit organizations.
Another
reason many don't have affordable health insurance is because
they are unemployed. In a bad economy, companies downsize
and many lose their jobs. In addition, many are forced to
quit their jobs because they can no longer afford daycare
and are find that it is cheaper for one parent to stay home
with the children. Either way - whether they lost their
job or quit voluntarily, this often leads to an entire family
who is no longer covered.
Do
life changes affect one's ability to maintain affordable
coverage?
Absolutely.
Health coverage is very unstable during life’s transitions.
Employer-sponsored coverage can be drastically reduced when
an employee changes from a full-time to part-time position,
when they retire, when they have a baby, and when they are
getting a divorce.
Those
who are paying for their own insurance find themselves in
big trouble during a bad economy or recession. Many have
to cut their monthly spending so that they can afford more
urgent needs such as food, clothing, rent, and utilities.
Unfortunately, in most cases, insurance (health, auto, life,
and home) is on the top of the "cutting expenses"
list for most people.
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