Why a mandate that all be insured? Here's why

[jpgray]

http://www.familiesusa.org/resources/publications/reports/paying-a-premium.html

Report from Families USA
June 8, 2005 (revised July 13, 2005)
Paying a Premium:
The Increased Cost of Care for the Uninsured

This study quantifies, for the first time, the dollar impact on private health insurance premiums when doctors and hospitals provide health care to uninsured people. In 2005, premium costs for family health insurance coverage provided by private employers will include an extra $922 in premiums due to the cost of care for the uninsured; premiums for individual coverage will cost an extra $341.

Nearly 48 million Americans will be uninsured for the entire year in 2005. What happens when some of these 48 million Americans get sick? Research has shown that the uninsured often put off getting care for health problems—or forgo care altogether.1 When the symptoms can no longer be ignored, the uninsured do see doctors and go to hospitals. Without insurance to pay the tab, the uninsured struggle to pay as much as they can: More than one-third (35 percent) of the total cost of health care services provided to people without health insurance is paid out-of-pocket by the uninsured themselves.2

To find out who pays the remainder of this bill—the portion that the uninsured themselves simply cannot manage to pay—Families USA contracted with Dr. Kenneth Thorpe, Robert W. Woodruff Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, to analyze data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the National Center for Health Statistics, and other data. Through this study, we found that the remaining $43 billion is primarily paid by two sources: Roughly one-third is reimbursed by a number of government programs, and two-thirds is paid through higher premiums for people with health insurance.

As the costs of care for the uninsured are added to health insurance premiums that are already rising steeply, more employers can be expected to drop coverage, leaving even more people without insurance. And as more people lose coverage and the cost of their care is added to premiums for the insured, still more employers will drop coverage. It's a vicious circle that will not end until we as a nation take steps to solve the underlying problems.

[soothsayer]

1. We should tell people they're already paying for the uninsured, and that

way they won't feel as bad when we still foot the bill via the gov

[acmavm]

2. Hell, I have insurance. I pay $144.00 per pay period ($288.00 per month)

I can't afford that shit. But I have to have it. I have a 15-year old son.

edit: and even paying that high a premium my insurance doesn't pay for shit.

[bahrbearian]

3. How about Single-Payer ?

[jpgray]

4. That would be ideal. Unfortunately no major candidate is offering such a plan

So if I have to choose, I'd choose one with the mandate.

[Vinca]

5. Basically, you can't get water out of a rock.

When Massachusetts mandated insurance, all the people who couldn't afford the "low" cost moved into southern New Hampshire. In addition, the wonderful, "affordable" policies offered usually cover Jack Squat. We need health CARE not health insurance. What would be so horrible in having something like a nationwide sales tax to pay for health care for everyone? Wouldn't it be wonderful to go to the doctor when you're sick, hand them your government health card and know . . . KNOW . . . 6 weeks down the road you wouldn't be getting a monstrous bill for items not covered under your insurance? Assurance you wouldn't go bankrupt over medical bills even though you have insurance. Mandate, shmandate. We need universal, single-payer health care for everyone.

[jpgray]

6. First off, national sales taxes are regressive. Second, a universal single payer isn't offered

Not in the form of a major candidate. Of the three major plans, only one provides an easy transition to single-payer and that's Edwards's. I wouldn't say his plan has zero problems or fixes everything, because that simply isn't true. But I do want to point out that the burden of the uninsured is a huge cause of high premiums.

[Vinca]

7. The insurance companies are second only to big oil in profits and

you blame the uninsured? I don't think so. Of course they - I should say we - add to it, but the primary reason for high premiums is GREED. The major candidates, sadly, are wimping out on this issue. I love the way they think the average family can pony up $700 - $800 a month for mediocre health insurance. Not a problem if you give up food or heating oil I guess. If you don't like a sales tax, tack a percent or two onto the annual tax bill. The last quote (4 years ago) we got for health insurance with a high deductible was $12,000 a year. There's no way in hell my taxes would go up to that stratospheric level. It's a shame politicians - and I'm speaking of just about all of them - do what is politically advantageous rather than what is actually needed. Got to keep those insurance/big pharma bucks pouring into the campaign coffers. Don't want the Republicans to have a talking point. After all, we might be accused of endorsing "socialized medicine." The horror.

[NC_Nurse]

8. I don't understand the big hullabaloo about mandated insurance...

The only way to make insurance work is to cover a large enough group that the healthy people
help cover the unhealthy people and the plan stays afloat. That's how it works for drivers, homeowners,
businesses, etc.

People love to bitch about not having access to healthcare, but then they don't want it to be mandatory either. Whatever.

[Armstead]

10. If private plans were based on a universal risk pool that might make sense

However, insurance has moved to plans that cater to the healthy, but throw the people who would actually need it to the wolves -- or into high-risk, high cost plans.

[TreasonousBastard]

13. They just don't want to pay for it...

everyone seems to forget that doctors, nurses, medicines, tests, diagnostic and treatment equipment... all cost money and it has to come from somewhere.

[Armstead]

9. That's blaming the victim

Blaming the ridiculous cost of coverage on the uninsured is a deflection.

Sure it adds to the cost. But far, far less than the obscene policies and profit motives that drive insurance.

Mandates will only make it harder for the people who can't afford it. And meanwhile it will be forcing them into the hands of private insurers.

If the candidates (with the exception of Kucinich) want to mandate insurance, they ought to do iut through a guaranteed benefits plan publicly funded, like Medicare.

[justgamma]

11. I don't understand this.

"two-thirds is paid through higher premiums for people with health insurance." Why are the insurance companies getting more money when they have nothing to do with the uninsured?

The other thing I question is, Healthcare providers don't just shrug off debts owed. They turn them into collection agencies, which in turn garnish the wages of the people who can't pay up front.

Shrub seems to think that if poor people go to the emergency room, their care is free.

[Sanctified]

12. The only winners in mandated insurance is the insurance companies.

If everyone is required to have insurance then insurance companies will rake you over the coals because you have no choice, you have to pay it or face fines or prison time. The only solution is a government health care plan that is paid for via taxation.