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SolveYourProblem
Article Series:
Health Insurance
Can't
Afford Health Insurance:
Here Are Your Options
The high cost of health insurance is an American
epidemic. It holds no bearing on what income class you are
in, it is still too expensive. The most effected are
the poor and middle classes. They have fewer options because they have
less money to spend. Many of these people can barely afford
any type of insurance and in some cases cannot afford any coverage
at all. There are approximately over 40 million Americans that
have no health insurance and the numbers are steadily rising.
Many households have incomes less than $20,000 annually so
affording insurance benefits is not an option. For low wage
jobs or jobs that have less than 20 employees, benefits are
very limited and sometimes not even offered.
In addition, most of the people who are uninsured don’t qualify
for public medical assistance because the limits for not being
eligible are extremely low. The growing population of self
employed people who don’t have the option of group rate medical
insurance also often go with out benefits due to the expensive
nature of independent health care plans. They may seem to have
more money but the total out of pocket and premium expenses
add up at the end of the year when you have to pay taxes and
overhead as well as regular bills.
It really doesn’t matter if you are an unskilled laborer or
extremely skilled professional. If you lack a an employer health
care plan at a reasonable cost, you only the two choices
or no insurance or paying through the nose for a private plan. Many Americans just opt to be uninsured so they can pay for
their regular bills and feed themselves and their families.
How these people pay for their medical bills depends on their
resources. Some people will qualify for public assistance and
be able to get help with medical benefits similar to an HMO.
For those who don’t qualify for public assistance, some people
go to clinics that give care based on income. This offers decent
care for a reasonable price. This option does not cover hospital
or emergency care. You will have to make a payment arrangement
with the hospital you chose. Then there the people who cannot
even afford small payments and chose to go to the emergency
room where they cannot be turned away, then not pay at all.
This kind of thing is very common and just makes medical cost
rise and makes health care and insurance even more costly.
Some of the reason for the growing cost in medicine today
is due to the increasing demand for new and improved techniques
and medicines. People are willing to shell out their entire
savings for a new treatment or surgical technique. So the health
care industry endorses these new expensive experiments and
then refuses to cover them without upping the plan cost. It
is extremely important for people to take their medical future
seriously. But with rise in cost and decline in access and
ability, it makes that very hard for many. Many companies are
trying battle the cost of health care for their employees by
setting up medical savings accounts. The employees can have
a deduction from their check and put it in this account tax
free and collect interest. Many people cannot afford to put
money in the account even if it is offered though. Some employers
offer a matching amount as an incentive for the investment.
Unfortunately, the biggest advantage will be to the upper and
wealthy class persons. The low income and working class will
see little benefit from MRAs.
With the increase in unemployment there are a growing number
of people who don’t have group insurance rate at their disposal.
These people are either forced to pay for their old policy
through COBRA at a much higher rate, buy a private policy at
a high rate, or go with out medical benefits till they find
work that will offer a plan. The poorest of Americans are the
least heard about. The big business sweeps them under the carpet
and pretends they aren’t there. For those people who are $1
over poverty guidelines, obtaining insurance is near impossible.
Even applying for other types of public assistance with medical
can take years of being on a waiting list. For these extremely
poor folks, even a clinic is like paying $100 per visit.
Click here to to view health insurance quotes, compare plans side-by-side and apply for the most affordable health insurance within your budget. I did this myself (June 17, 2011) to change my health insurance policy. Saved me $84 per month (or $1,008 per year). It's my SolveYourProblem recommendation.
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by SolveYourProblem.com
: 2006
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