Uninsured Health Care Essay

There are several issues concerning the uninsured and underinsured patient population in America. There are many areas of concern the congressional efforts to increase the availability of health insurance, the public image of the insurance industry illustrated by the movie "John Q", the lack of good management tools, and creating health insurance coverage for all low income Americans. Since the number of uninsured Americans has risen to 43 million from 37 million in the flourishing 1990s and could shoot up even more severely if the economy continues to decrease and health care premiums keep increasing (Insurance No Simple Fix, 2001).

In order to fully understand the uninsured and underinsured problem that hospital administrators face the cause must be examined. The health outcomes of uninsured individuals are generally worse than those who are insured. Uninsured persons are more likely to experience avoidable hospitalizations, diagnosed at later stages of disease, hospitalized on an emergency or urgent basis, and more seriously ill upon hospitalization (Simpson, 2002) Because the uninsured often lack an ongoing relationship with a health-care provider, they are less likely to receive preventive care and diagnostic tests (Kemper, 2002). Many corporations balance their budget through cost cuts and other moves, but have been slammed with an increasing load of uninsured patients, coupled with reduced payments from government and private insurance programs. In 2000, 564,476 uninsured patients came through Health and Hospitals Corporations health care centers, a 30 percent increase from 1996. In the same period, Congress reduced Medicare reimbursements to hospitals, while Medicaid reimbursements to primary care clinics remained basicall...

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...ter drugs in Mexico that are prescription only in the U.S. In Massachusetts, uninsured college educated students often know people who knows doctors that are able to write them prescriptions or give out drug samples for free without examining the patient. Uninsured Americans also do not finish their prescriptions and save them for future use and also share prescriptions with friends and relatives (Sered & Fernandopulle 2005).

Health insurance and health outcomes are closely associated. If the same uninsured individual instead has continuous health insurance, he or she will not be at risk for premature death and will have better health outcome (Marwick 2002). Uninsured people report that they are in poorer health than people with health insurance. Low levels of self-reported health status are a powerful predictor of future illness and premature death (Bailey 2009).