Despite the everpresent danger of unexpected illness or injury, about 16% of the United States population has no health insurance of any kind. The bulk of these uninsured fall in a low-middle income range and are in their 20s or early 30s. The majority of them are employed full-time earning enough that they don't qualify for Medicaid and they are mostly young enough that they don't feel immediately threatened by major health issues (for demographic details see covertheuninsuredweek.org).
Well over half of the uninsured earn $15,000 a year or more, but work at jobs where no insurance is provided by their employer. At that income level they could probably afford some sort of basic health insurance, but at that income a budget can be tight and they presumably choose to spend on other perceived essentials rather than insurance. I know I lived that way for many years, because I was young and healthy and didn't even consider the possibility that I might get sick or injured. I got lucky and never needed insurance. I'm not sure that everyone can count on that.
While others may need government assistance, the insurance needs of this large group could be addressed without government intervention, which would cut the population of the uninsured in half. Many of those in this group may not realize that it isn't as difficult to get insurance as they think. There are ways to reduce insurance costs and alternative sources for insurance which might make you think twice about deciding that insurance is something you can afford to live without.
First off, consider the cost of not being insured. It may save you money in the short term, but that could all be erased instantly by one major illness or even a relatively minor injury. For example, a simple broken bone can cost as much as $5000 to treat in a hospital - even more if there are complications. That would exceed any possible spare money you might have and would likely leave you making payments to the hospital as high as you would have paid for insurance for several years. That's a real budget buster, so maybe you would have been better off with health insurance.
So how do you afford health insurance? There are ways you might be able to save money. Driving an older car, cancelling your cable television, eating bag lunches - each of these could save you $50 a month. Taken together that doesn't seem like a lot of money, but it might be enough to pay for a lot more health insurance than you expect.
In a recent article, BusinessWeek had some suggestions on how to make health insurance more affordable.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Shark
Wow.
Things in America are just hunky-dory for those living below the poverty level!
Just give up that cable tv and take a brown bag when you go to work at that $8 an hour part-time job!
Next Nalle article:
"Iraq a Great Tourist Destination"
2 - Dave Nalle
Shark, I see the ADD is kicking in again. Where in this did I say one word about people below the poverty level? The group I'm addressing is those earning $15,000 or more. They earn at least 50% more than the poverty level and make up half of those who do not have health insurance. And that's not a $8 an hour half-time job, it's $8 an hour working full time, and that's the lowe-end cutoff of the group I'm talking about.
And I've already done my article on Iraq as a tourist destination.
Dave
3 - chantal stone
Dave....
i happen to work with a lot of the people you described.....20- early 30-somethings, feel invincible, earn about 15-16k per year, of course, uninsured. and we work for an employer who offers health insurance for part-time employees. and surprisingly, most of my beloved co-workers choose not to use the health plan provided by our employer.
most, i think, can get away with it, at least for now, but i do have one friend who has found himself in a position where he NEEDS medical attention, but can't get health coverage until the open enrollment in November.
although i think $100/month is certainly feasible on a 16K/year income if its something you absolutely deem as necessary, although a HUGE stretch, most of my friends (most single, no kids) have trouble paying their rent every month, let alone an insurance premium. it's all about priorities, i suppose.
thanks for the info, i'm definitely going to direct my medical-attention-needing friend to the links you provided.
4 - Dave Nalle
I resemble that remark, Chantal. For about 10 years - into my early 30s - I chose not to have health insurance. My employers made it available, but didn't pay for it. I think back then it would have cost me $50 a month for pretty good coverage, but I much preferred to spend that money on having fun, plus I was pretty sure I was indestructible. Turned out to be the right decision for me because I've always been freakishly healthy. But the moment I got married and had kids I realized that I needed to have health insurance and got it, even when it was a fairly major expense. Now I'm tussling with the 'is life insurance worth it' for 40-somethings issue.
Dave
5 - chantal stone
Dave....if you have kids, then life-insurance is totally worth it....you never know when your computer monitor is gonna fall on your head or something. better to be safe than sorry.
i'll pray for your safety
6 - Dave Nalle
I think my LCD monitor isn't actually heavy enough to crush my skull, but on the other hand, I might get fried by some of the Improvised Electronic Devices attached to it.
Dave
7 - Susan R-G
For many years, I was covered by my s.o.'s health insurance through his corporation. Last year, when he bought his own business, I lost that fabulous group health insurance. He was able to get an individual policy rather quickly and inexpensively. I, on the other hand, could not find a company that would insure me. After nine rejections, a company agreed to insure me at a rate of $1,600/quarter for premiums, $1800/year deductible and none of my medications are covered (all are classified as pre-existing for life - out of pocket per month is over $1000). Granted, we make a decent income, but my insurance coverage and meds put a big bite into it, with no recourse or alternativea.
8 - JELIEL³
Health Insurance is my birthright... I'm Canadian.
Properly funded Socialised healthcare brings new meaning to the saying NO ONE LEFT BEHIND.
9 - Dave Nalle
If you were covered by your SO's insurance you ought to have been able to get COBRA coverage when he left his job, at least for 18 months.
But yes, things are different if you have preexisting medical conditions, no question about that.
Not that it helps you, but most people in the group described in the article are young and healthy and unlikely to have preexisting conditions. That's why they are the ideal group that ought to be off the rolls of the uninsured and insure themselves.
Dave
10 - Matthew T. Sussman
I'm fortunate that the job I got right outta college offered pretty solid coverage for about $60 a month, which covers dental.
Weren't the "cash strapped" kids in college always blowing their money on booze, anyways?
(P.S. - don't hyphenate "cash strapped." It's a stopword.)
11 - Susan R-G
I find it a bit unnerving that severe migraines that I have had since the age of fourteen, that are all but completely stopped by a medication used to treat epilepsy (which costs almost $300/month), and controlled by imitrex (a migraine medication - approx $200 per Rx) causes me to be treated like a leper or severely handicapped. I also have fibromyalgia, which has been classified as an autoimmune disorder - putting me in a classification that really doesn't represent the symptoms of the illness correctly and 'labels' me to a stronger degree.
12 - Dave Nalle
Fibromyalgia is a serious illness. I'm surprised that with it you're insurable at all. And I sympathize on the migraines. I had migraines from the age of 13 to the age of 15 - presumably hormone induced - which caused me to go blind and be immobilized by pain, and back then there were no drugs to treat them. Fortunately I grew out of them, but I sympathize.
Dave
13 - diana hartman
per comment #4:
there's a big difference between freakishly healthy and freakishly lucky...one may well have been the former but one plays with fire thinking the latter had nothing to do with it...health doesn't stand a chance against a drunk who crosses the center line into your car...some would say God only gives us that which we can handle and if that's true then it's clear some can't handle much in the way of illness; but no one gets out alive...very few loved ones get out of having to pay the expenses of another's death...again, that motorized drunk could be anywhere...
without life insurance and a will, life for those left behind can get ugly, not as an exception but rather as the norm -- and at a time when they're grieving? i dare say not providing for one's death is selfish...
it's not a question of "do i need this?", it's a question of "why am i waiting?"...
if one can't or won't imagine what life will be like for those left behind without a will to guide them or a life insurance check to provide for them, then one ought to get it out of the way so as not to have to think about it anymore...
death changes people...whatever you can imagine might happen will, in reality, be much worse than anything you could imagine...
true, you won't be here to see it, but again that's a selfish disregard for those one claims to love...
14 - Dave Nalle
Diana, I'll cop to the lucky as well as healthy. But in my 20s I'm not sure I needed a will as I had nothing and no one depended on me. Now that I'm older and have a family I have both health insurance and a will and a variety of other complex documents to go along with them.
I don't judge those who are young and with few ties who don't have health insurance, up until the point where they become a burden on the state or their families. I certainly understand why they make the choices they do.
Dave
15 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Funny how everybody just ignored you, Jeliel. Healthcare is your birthright. Good! It's mine too - now tht I live in Israel. We paid all of NIS 0 when I had to go to hospital for a heart attack.
We paid a fortune of money for health insurance in the States - and that was just one third of the premium with my wife's employer picking up the rest. I pay NIS 396 (US$84) every two months to Bituahh L'umÃ. Drugs presriptions cost me an average of NIS 15 (US$3.25) per on average.
Go find that in the States - anywhere.
16 - Dave Nalle
Health Insurance is my birthright... I'm Canadian.
Freedom is my birthirght...I'm American.
Dave
17 - Dave Nalle
Ruvy, if you adjust the cost of your healthcare for having a mean individual income about half what we have in the US, you end up paying a price comparable to some of the plans I discuss in the article.
Dave
18 - Mark Saleski
Freedom is my birthirght...I'm American.
arrogance too.
19 - Dave Nalle
Freedom is a heady drug, Mark. Addictive too.
Dave
20 - Mark Saleski
yes, so is condescension.
21 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
"if you adjust the cost of your healthcare for having a mean individual income about half what we have in the US, you end up paying a price comparable to some of the plans I discuss in the article"
Dave, I beg to differ with what you say. First of all, my wife paid $100 every two weeks for our BC/BS coverage. That works out to $2,600 a year. She made about $25,000. Just so you do not get confused, NIS means "New Israeli Shekels"
So, if she was making 40% of her American wages, $10,000 (NIS 47,000 or NIS 3,900 per month), she ought to be paying $1,040 per year. That comes to about NIS 4,900 annually, or NIS 817 every two months. We pay NIS 396 every two months. We carry a supplementary plan for NIS 65 per month, or NIS 130 every two months. Add that to the NIS 396, and we pay NIS 526 every two months. That works out to $112 every two months. We paid $433 every two moths in Minnesota.
Now bear in mind, I'm discussing a real plan, not a stripped down plan. We paid 25% of the cost of prescription medicine. Here we pay 15%. Mind you, I adjusted the income to 40% of American income, not 50%, and we still come out way ahead.
But that ain't all, Dave. We paid a $13 co-pay for doctor visits to regular physicians in Minnesota. Here we pay NIS 0. When I took my son to the doctor yesterday, I laid out exactly one goose egg. When I go see a specialist here, I pay NIS 18 ($3.85) per quarter. When was the last time you went to a specialist for $10, Dave?
22 - lumpy
I don't see how health insurance is a right. are we unable to do anything for ourselves? why would I want the big nanny government to raise my kids and determine what medical treatment u should have and where I can live and how much I can earn. screw that. i'd rather die free and sick in a ditch than live as a slave of the stata.
23 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Lumpy, have you ever slept under a bridge in winter? I don't mean for a lark, I mean because you didn't have a place to hang your hat.
I have.
When you're okay, you can afford to have the attitude of not caring if you die in a ditch. When you're not, or you have kids depending on you for food and shelter, it ain't the smartest attitude to have. YOU may not mind dying in a ditch, but your kids might.
24 - Bird Dog
Dave,
I'm a former insurance underwriter for long term care insurance as well as individual health insurance. I'd probably take exception to most everything you've written. The phrase "probably could afford" at the beginning of the article speaks volumes. I do agree with some of your remarks however I see them in very simplistic, as opposed to realistic terms.
25 - gonzo marx
interesting that those who shout they are "free" and don't want a "nanny" government to interfere in things like healthcare or "promoting the general welfare" of individual citizens tend to vote for the Party that feed billions into corporate welfare and cheers the saem government on with full trust as they lead the U.S. into pre-emptive war, undocumented (or judicially reviwed wiretaps), can't seem to close our borders..., be nanny in our bedrooms and nanny regulating what's on TV and in the media...
on and on
too fucking much
Excelsior!