The Cost of America’s Uninsured

• America spends nearly $100 billion per year to provide health services for uninsured residents. Most often treated are preventable diseases or diseases that physicians could treat more efficiently with earlier diagnosis.1Hospitals donate approximately $34 billion worth of uncompensated care a year.1
• Private and public payers provide another $37 billion for health services for the uninsured.1
• Those who lack coverage pay out-of-pocket $26 billion.1
• Those who lack coverage are 30 to 50 percent more likely to be hospitalized for an avoidable condition. The average cost of an avoidable hospital stay is estimated around $3,300.1
• The uninsured increasingly rely on the emergency department, which has serious economic implications. The cost of treating patients is higher in the emergency department than in other outpatient clinics and medical practices.2
• A new study found that 29 percent of people who had health insurance were “underinsured”. Their coverage is so meager that medical care is often postponed or avoided because of costs.3
• Nearly 50 percent overall, and 43 percent of people WITH health coverage, said they were “somewhat” to “completely” unprepared to cope with a costly medical emergency over the coming year.3

The effects of being one of the millions without affordable health coverage are clearly severe. Many uninsured individuals postpone needed medical care, which creates increased mortality and billions of dollars lost in productivity, besides the increased expenses to the health care system. Plus, the American citizens who have managed to retain coverage have an increased sense of vulnerability to the possible loss of the health insurance coverage.

There are no easy answers to this epidemic problem. Some have the opinion that every American should have health care coverage, and that participation should be mandatory.4 Others promote that only America’s children be required to have mandatory health care.5

Yet others proclaim that health care should be available to all and not limited by where one works or how much one makes. They endorse that families be in charge of their health care dollars and have more control over care.6

There seems to be no obvious right or wrong answer to the question of how to better insure the American population. However, the U.S.’s past actions of doing nothing about the problem has proven detrimental. The solution at this point might be that it’s just better to do something than nothing at all.

1. Institute of Medicine. Hidden Costs, Values Lost: Uninsurance in America. The National Academies Press. 17 June 2003 http://www.iom.edu/Report.asp?id=12313
2. Institute of Medicine. Care Without Coverage – Too Little, Too Late. The National Academies Press, 2002.
3. Consumer Reports. Are You Really Covered? September 2007.
4. Clinton’s Mandatory Health Care Insurance plans. http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/09/17/health.care/index.html
5. Obama’08 Healthcare. http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/
6. http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/19ba2f1c-c03f-4ac2-8cd5-5cf2edb527cf.htm