Health Insurance Does Not Secure In-Time Health Care
Famous for its advanced insurance system design, United States has also seen citizens suffering from the unaffordable cost of insurance. With the possibility to be over $1,000, the premium is more than capable of frightening people away from health insurance. Statistics found that the uninsured rate in some states could be as high as 20% (Kovner & Knickman, 2011, p.156). Now with the introduction of ACA and relevant policies with systematic attempts to lower the cost and enhance people’s awareness, more people are expected to have access to health insurance. However, the access to health insurance only means covered expenses of the health care service delivered to the policyholder, which …show more content…
Medicaid seems to be a panacea for people with lower income, but no more than a placebo for health care providers. Less money are spent, so less money are received. The new policies are not attractive to the providers if they can do some math and compare the income with other payment from their regular operation. In 2011, about two-thirds of primary care physicians accepted new Medicaid patients, and in some states, there were more than 50% primary care providers not accepting new Medicaid patients (Decker, 2013). For a random patient with recent access to Medicaid, one in three times he could be declined by the hospital. Lower acceptance rate means more time spent to find a provider and potentially worse health …show more content…
In addition, the higher deductible will make policy holders more unwilling to access health care. The policyholder may have enjoyed better health condition if early access to health care is possible. But due to the limitation of health insurance, the common sense “a doctor will be ready for you when you visit” no longer holds. The need of a piece of aspirin may finally be finally turned the necessity of surgery. In financial world, one dollar earned tomorrow is not as worthy as one dollar earned today because of the interest. Health care delivered tomorrow is also less valuable as the same service delivered today. Access to health insurance can only save money rather than time of the patient, and cannot be equal to access to health
Famous for its advanced insurance system design, United States has also seen citizens suffering from the unaffordable cost of insurance. With the possibility to be over $1,000, the premium is more than capable of frightening people away from health insurance. Statistics found that the uninsured rate in some states could be as high as 20% (Kovner & Knickman, 2011, p.156). Now with the introduction of ACA and relevant policies with systematic attempts to lower the cost and enhance people’s awareness, more people are expected to have access to health insurance. However, the access to health insurance only means covered expenses of the health care service delivered to the policyholder, which …show more content…
Medicaid seems to be a panacea for people with lower income, but no more than a placebo for health care providers. Less money are spent, so less money are received. The new policies are not attractive to the providers if they can do some math and compare the income with other payment from their regular operation. In 2011, about two-thirds of primary care physicians accepted new Medicaid patients, and in some states, there were more than 50% primary care providers not accepting new Medicaid patients (Decker, 2013). For a random patient with recent access to Medicaid, one in three times he could be declined by the hospital. Lower acceptance rate means more time spent to find a provider and potentially worse health …show more content…
In addition, the higher deductible will make policy holders more unwilling to access health care. The policyholder may have enjoyed better health condition if early access to health care is possible. But due to the limitation of health insurance, the common sense “a doctor will be ready for you when you visit” no longer holds. The need of a piece of aspirin may finally be finally turned the necessity of surgery. In financial world, one dollar earned tomorrow is not as worthy as one dollar earned today because of the interest. Health care delivered tomorrow is also less valuable as the same service delivered today. Access to health insurance can only save money rather than time of the patient, and cannot be equal to access to health