Uninsured Americans

Today uninsured Americans make up approximately 4.2 million people. Because these families cannot afford the high cost of insurance, they do not get the health care needed to maintain good health. They must live with the pain and worry of the problem and when they do get medical care, they assume huge debts and another worry of how to pay for it.

The United States is the only modern industrialized country with out a sound health care system. Since 1999, one in six, not including the elderly, went without health care coverage for the entire year. More males went without coverage then females. Those most likely to be covered were those who were elderly and under the age of 18. Even Canada has a system where every one in the country has some type of health care coverage.

Don?t expect the situation to go away any time soon. The Republicans and the Democrats are more concerned with paying down the national debt that getting health care coverage for those who need it. So any coverage that a family does have is from the employer if they work. Employment insurance in most companies is for the employee only. The employee then has to have money taken out of their paycheck to cover their family members. Depending on the number of family members to be covered depends on how much money will be taken out of the paycheck. Unless we work for a prestigious company and make lots of money the money taken out of our paychecks shorten the amount we take home to live on. So the employee may have insurance but their spouse may not. This is a problem when the spouse cannot work. Another situation is when the employer does not offer any insurance to their employees. The employee is then part of the millions who do not have health care insurance and cannot afford to pay for it. The people who do not have the coverage are those who are too poor to afford it. Many working parents who fall into the lower class are the greatest group of people who cannot afford insurance.

Another factor of the uninsured Americans are those who have a lower level of education. Generally, the better educated the person the better chance they are to have a good job that covers them and their family. Those who have a high volume income are those who are most likely to have healthcare insurance, and the Americans who have the lowest level of income are those who went with out insurance.

There are many small companies in the United States that do not offer health insurance to their employees because of the high premiums insurance companies place on the small business owners. Insurers charge higher premiums to the small business owners because they claim the administrative costs are higher for the small group. So, again the person who is trying to make a life for themselves and their family cannot get insurance and cannot afford insurance. This is not as simple as it may seems, many cannot afford to just get another job because there are many small business in the same boat. And the insurance premiums just keep rising making it impossible for the average worker and small businesses to get health insurance coverage.

Three major factors contributed to the long-term decline in private health insurance coverage. First, is the cost of health care coverage, which leads to a greater cost sharing between the employer and the employee. Many workers cannot afford the high premiums and co-payments (the share of medical expense the employee must pay for each health service provided). A second factor is that America went from a commerce and goods-producing industry (where health care was typically provide) to a service sector where employers no longer offer health care coverage for their employees. A third factor is the changing nature of the relationship between the employer and the employee. In the 1960?s and 1970?s companies took the ?fatherly? approach to employees? well being and promote a healthy life workforce to get employee loyalty. Since the mid 1990?s, many companies have assumed less responsibility for their workers? health and have found measures to reduce the cost of business expense by reducing the opportunity for the employee to have coverage through their place of employment (Source of Health).

The highest percentage of Americans who do not have coverage are the Hispanic group. The African-American are second to them. These two groups make up the largest population of those who are uninsured. Because of this, many men in women in this group tend to have a shorter life span because they cannot afford health care insurance and therefore tend not to get the medical attention needed. By the time they do get the help that is needed, it is too late to cure the problem and they are stuck with a huge medical expense they cannot afford to pay.

There are three sources of health insurance coverage, private insurance, Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare is the