Why People Are Uninsured

There are many factors that can account into why people still do not have health insurance in the United States. In the last decade, the unemployment rate has steadily increased causing the number of uninsured people to rise. The main focus of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), has been to provide low-income individuals with health care coverage. With the job market improving, people have had the opportunities to get different jobs and become covered again. But the question remains, even with employment, why are 61% of adults still uninsured? Most of the uninsured are low-income working families who cannot afford the high cost of insurance.
One of the main reasons why adults say they are uninsured is because of the cost of insurance being too high. With plant closings, business layoffs, downsizing, ect, people who had depended on receiving benefits from their jobs now have nothing

because of a job loss. For the others who are employed, some companies don’t provide health care benefits making the employee pay for all health benefits out of pocket.
One of the points that was touched in the book was also the example of people being in abusive relationships.

A woman can be in a relationship with someone who currently is providing that health care for them. In certain instances where the relationship turns out abusive, if she leaves her spouse with the children that no longer leaves them with any health insurance. If the couple was married, getting a divorce no longer provides the other person with their ex’s health benefits.
With people who already have health insurance, certain examples like having too high of a deductible, limited benefits, and outstanding out-of-pocket expenses all continue to make health insurance too expensive. Having limited benefits means that certain procedures or kinds of care are not covered by your insurance. Also, having pre-existing conditions gives the opportunity for an insurance company to deny all claims pertaining to the certain medical problem for certain periods of time. They could wait as long as 12-18 months, or longer, to have you receive your treatment basically deteriorating the

situation.
Certain parts of health care plans also allow a specific number of sessions for a certain amount of time. For example, if a person was seeing a therapist weekly, some health insurances could only cover 10 of those sessions. For someone who goes weekly, that would not be the most ideal situation because the rest of the year would consist of paying for the expensive sessions out of pocket. Having a limited amount of sessions can also become an issue when it comes to finding a provider that accepts the health care. There are numerous amounts of hospitals, clinics, physicians, dentists, or practitioners that are very limited in the insurance they accept or receive. One of the hardest things is finding a doctor that accepts your insurance, and then finding time that they have open to get scheduled in.
People who do not have any insurance coverage have a harder time and worse access to care than people who are insured. The uninsured are less likely than those with insurance to receive preventive care and services for major health conditions and chronic diseases. They prefer to just stay uninsured because they are too poor to afford it and getting it can push them further back in debt than they already could be or are.