By J. Lyn Carl, GalleryWatch.com
Austin, TX –
As the number of uninsured Americans increases annually, particularly in Texas where statistics show more than 20 percent of the state's population - or 4.8 million Texans - are uninsured, costs for physician and hospital care for the uninsured will continue to impact the cost of premiums for those families that do have health insurance.
In a recent Families USA Foundation report, Paying a Premium: The Added Cost for Care of the Uninsured, it is noted that this year alone health insurance coverage provided by private employers in the United States will include an extra $922 in premiums due to cost of medical care for the nearly 48 million uninsured throughout the nation, while individual coverage premiums will increase by $341.
By 2010, the number of uninsured in Texas is expected to climb to 5.3 million, ranking the state second only to California. California currently ranks first among the states in uninsured residents at 7.8 million, which is expected to again rank California as the state with the most uninsured citizens in 2010 with a projected figure of 8.6 million.
The Families USA Foundation report indicates that when the uninsured do go for medical care, they end up paying approximately one-third of the cost of that care out of their own pockets. Further research shows that government programs reimbursed another third of the cost of that care and the remaining third was made up through increased premium costs for individuals who have health insurance.
"As the costs of care for the uninsured are added to health insurance premiums that are already rising steeply," says the report, "more employers can be expected to drop coverage, leaving even more people without insurance. And as more people lose coverage and the cost of their care is added to premiums for the insured, still more employers will drop coverage."
The study shows that in Texas, health insurance premiums for families in 2005 who have insurance through private employers were $1,551 higher due to the reimbursed cost of health care for the uninsured. Texas was one of only six states whose premiums increased by at least $1,500. Texas was one of eight states found to show increases of more than $500 in 2005 for individuals with insurance through private employers. Texas premiums for those individuals increased $550.
By 2010, the figure for families in Texas is expected to increase by $2,786, and the figure for individuals is predicted to climb by $922 for the same year.
In Texas this year, according to the report, there will be some $4.6 billion in health care costs the uninsured cannot pay, with that figure expected to rise to $6.5 billion in 2010.
The report points out that, contrary to popular belief, most of the uninsured in this country either work or are in a family where at least one family member works. The report then goes on to examine why workers who are unemployed do not have health insurance. Key among the reasons is that not all employers offer health insurance benefits. Small employers, employers with low-wage workers and employers who hire older employees, are less likely to be able to afford health insurance benefits for their employees. For some employers who do offer benefits, many employees often are unable to afford their portion of the premium. Other uninsured are often those who, through no fault of their own, lose their jobs. "As the workforce becomes increasingly mobile," says the report, "we can expect more and more workers to experience periods of joblessness and, thus, temporary loss of insurance."
The report also notes that the uninsured often do not seek health care when they need it because they cannot pay for it. Thus, when they become sicker and eventually do seek health care, their care is generally more costly. "Uninsured adults have a greater chance of experiencing a major health decline than insured adults," according to the report, which adds, "When hospitalized, uninsured patients are likely to be in worse condition than insured patients, and they are three times more likely to die in the hospital than insured patients."
With some two-thirds of the cost of medical care for the uninsured paid for by higher premiums for those with insurance, the cost of private insurance on average in the United States is 8.5 percent higher in 2005 than it would be if all Americans had insurance coverage, according to the report.
Not only does lack of health insurance coverage among so many Americans affect the premiums of families and individuals who do have insurance, the report also points out that the number of uninsured results in a $65-$130 billion economic impact relative to lost productivity. The report concludes that unless the country finds ways to insure the uninsured, "the problem can be expected to worsen - for the uninsured and the insured alike."