Title: What Happens When You Can’t Afford Your Medical Expenses?
Category: Health
Tags: healthcare, medical expenses, medicare, Medicaid, insurance premiums, susan moore, uninsured
Teaser: Being insured, doesn’t necessarily guarantee you’ll have enough money to pay the doctor, hospital, pharmaceutical and other medical bills.
Article:
You’ve worked your entire life, paid your dues each month and skimped on the things you really wanted, because frankly, there just isn’t enough money. Paying the heating bill/water bill/car loan… or putting food on the table takes priority. Suddenly you’re sick, with no money to spare and you just can’t afford to cover the costs associated with the required treatment. What happens now? Well, for some the
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Even insured people can’t afford the out of pocket expenses
But being insured, doesn’t necessarily guarantee you’ll have enough money to pay doctor, hospital, pharmaceutical and other medical bills. Insurance is supposed to protect people financially from the costs associated with everything from hospitalization to prescription drugs. But out-of-pocket spending for even those with employer-provided health insurance has increased by more than 50 percent since 2010. In fact, a 2015 poll by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that 26 percent of those surveyed said medical bills severely damaged their financial bottom line.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, in 2016, half of all insurance policy-holders also faced a deductible of $1000 (the out of pocket amount people must pay before their insurance kicks in). And for those people enrolled in Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces the figure is even higher. a
While a chronic illness can certainly cripple a household financially, so too can something as simple as a broken bone or an emergency appendectomy. The bottom line, nearly everyone will, at one time or another, need emergency care leading to unexpected bills. And many people, like Moore, can’t absorb those costs without difficulty. Yet, while this is common among Americans, there’s not much in place to help people get through these difficult
it. Not everyone has access to health insurance and there are those that are underinsured. “ In
Millions of insurance plans have annual payout limits, though the more typical plans purchased by employers usually set those limits at $500,000 or $750,000 -- which can also quickly be consumed by a catastrophic illness.
Don’t be afraid to choose your own way, it may result in a brilliant idea. Some people may believe because whether or not you’re wrong or right you can decide what is best for you, and in these two stories “Choices” by Susan Kerslake and “Forgiveness and Families” by Shirley Jackson both have one main idea involving the strength within you and the choices you choose to make with that. The two main characters that some people believe are similar would be Peggy from “Choices” and Cam from “Forgiveness and Families”. Some things that Peggy and Cam have in common would be they both made a bad choice. The narrator describing Peggy’s thoughts said “Should she die tomorrow, some else could deal with a dirty sink” (Kerslake 118) but who truly knows
Suspense is when the reader feels curious or led to read more in the story. In “Amigo Brothers” there is suspense. There is suspense when they are fighting in the boxing ring and the ref is about to say the winner but they both walk out so they are both winners. In “Lamb to the Slaughter” there is suspense because she is explaining to the cops that she was at the grocer to pick up vegetables and she came back to him dead on the floor but we know that she killed him and the cops don't.
Individuals who are uninsured tend to be at risk in several ways. They include not having access to preventive care, holding back in seeking treatment may result into more serious illnesses thereby making treatment even more expensive for them to afford. Most public health facilities do not satisfy the needs of many uninsured Americans. Unlike their counterparts, uninsured individuals are
On January 12 of this year the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation determined that for a single person household, poverty is considered earning $12,140 or less per year (“Poverty Guidelines”). However, the costs of healthcare are at an all-time high. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid found that in the United States, over three-trillion dollars are spent on health care each year, which equates to over ten-thousand dollars per person each year
Money plays a huge role in access, therefore it is a vital issue to discuss. Within the current system, lack of money results in lack of health care, which leaves thousands of people without any health care coverage. Between 2001 and 2005, the number of people paying for health insurance increased 30%, however income only raised 3% (Health Care Problems). Adequate income is a necessity and unfortunately that is not present. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the average annual premium across the country is $16,000. Currently, the average annual income in the United States is $51,107. Mint Money Management suggests that about 4-6% of one’s total income should be spent on insurance, including life, disability, and health insurance. However, the averages in the United States show that the average person spends about 31% of their income on health insurance, which is not financially beneficial. When this rise in health insurance is not parallel to the inflation of income, innocent people are left without a method to achieve health care. There is a program for those who can’t afford health insurance out of pocket nor have access to it, and that is called Medicaid. Issues still exist with the program. There is only so much funding, which leaves many still uninsured. Additionally, people with Medicaid have difficulty
So why don’t these people get insurance? Well, as is so often quoted, “money makes the world go round.” When it comes to health insurance however, it is not the world, but only America that seems to have a problem with providing health care for a reasonable price to its citizens. 55 percent of uninsured people answered that the reason they are without the safety of insurance is the reason everyone expects--they cannot afford it (NRHA 1).
The rising cost of health care has led companies to stop offering health insurance for employees, and private insurance is often too expensive for people to afford. Many families make too much money to qualify for Medicaid, but are unable to pay for private health insurance. Health care costs in the United States have more than doubled in the last twenty years. Insurance premiums are rising five times faster than wages, and Americans are spending more money on health care than people in any other country. The average amount one person pays per year for health care in the United States is 134 times higher than the average of other industrialized countries (“Health Care Issues”). Even people who have insurance aren’t guaranteed coverage. Many insurance companies find loopholes to avoid paying for expensive medical treatment, leaving people with massive debt from medical bills. Medical bills and illness cause over half of all personal bankruptcies in the United
There are many problems with healthcare in America today. One of them including the astronomical cost. According to CDC.ORG in 2007 the average person spends seven thousand four hundred dollars per year on health care alone. This rise in healthcare is extremely detrimental for families, seniors, and people of all ages. With such a high cost of insurance people are forced to make hard choices in
Someone without health coverage are less likely to receive preventative care and therefore more likely to become ill which increases medical costs, [1].
Financial burdens greatly limit the system’s accessibility; however, many in the U.S. are unable to fully utilize either option. Census estimates from 1999 indicate that 43 million Americans live without health insurance even though 75 percent of them have a full-time job or live in a household with at least one member working full-time (Mueller, , 5) In addition to the totally uninsured, census estimates also reveal that approximately 42 million other people in the U.S. are underinsured. This means that they have some insurance, but are still unable to afford all of their needed prescriptions, tests, visits to physicians, or hospital
When an individual or family does not have insurance, and can not or does not pay their medical bills, the cost of that care is "shifted" to patients who do have insurance. For example, a study done by Harvard University found that 50 percent of all bankruptcy filings were partly the result of major medical expenses. The average medical expenses in these bankruptcy filings were $12,000. And someone files bankruptcy every 30 seconds in this country. (National Coalition on Healthcare, 2005, Facts on health care costs). Most of those lost dollars are shifted to consumers in higher premiums and costs.
In an article on the Uninsured it states that “Lack of coverage increases the unpredictability of medical expenses and the potential for financial catastrophe, including bankruptcy” (Content.healthaffairs.org). The stress that is added when trying to plan financially can become overwhelming, “even for the majority of Americans who have coverage, maintaining it is not a sure thing, and the prospect of losing it can cause anxiety
There are a lot of people in the world that don’t care if they hate their job. Sometimes I’ve had the experience of walking to a store or anywhere, and that the employee has an attitude. Most workers tend to be in a bad mood because they hate their jobs. The only reason why they went in that direction was because of the earnings that job was going to give them I say to myself “ Why not work on a job I love and get paid to work on doing my passion” although I do believe that salary factor would somehow influence what career I decide to pursue. At the end of the day, I have to think about my future as a person. I’ll most likely grow and form a family with someone. I need to know that I would be able to give them a life without having to make