Why We Do What We Do: Important Facts About the Uninsured and Health Coverage
Each day at AccessHealth we assist clients by finding them medical homes that will provide free healthcare, as well as resources that can help them reach their personal health goals. Being uninsured is not an ideal situation, but how common is it really? And what implications does it have? Here are some facts that can help answer these questions.
Who is uninsured: Typically, those who are uninsured are low-income adults. Children automatically get covered by medicaid and the elderly are covered by medicare. About 75% of uninsured families have at least one person working in the family full time. According to the U.S. Census, the number of people without health coverage was at about 28.1 million, or 8.8% of the population in 2016.
Why are people uninsured: Cost is the number one reason why people cannot access health insurance. Oftentimes jobs do not provide health insurance and if they do, their cost is too high. There are also those who "fall in the cracks" where they do not qualify for medicaid and cannot afford private insurance. Immigrants also have a difficult time accessing healthcare because they are either undocumented or they cannot afford private insurance and have not completed a 5-year waiting period to qualify for medicaid.
How it affects the uninsured: Oftentimes, people who are uninsured go without treatment and preventative care because they cannot afford it. They are more likely to be hospitalized and have poorer health and quality of life. Since they are paying out of pocket, hospitals charge them higher rates, increasing debt and hurting hospital revenue.
Though the statistics look grim, organizations like AccessHealth help people get the care that they need and live healthier lives with more hope. For more information on uninsured statistics from 2016, visit
here.
To see how AccessHealth is directly impacting these numbers, click
here.
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