America's Health Insurance Crisis

[Guest guest]

America's Health Insurance Crisis

Wed Jun 5, 2:11 PM ET

By Felicity Stone

HealthScoutNews Reporter

WEDNESDAY, June 5 (HealthScoutNews) -- One in five Americans struggles to

get medical care, fill prescriptions, pay doctor bills or get

physician-recommended tests.

The primary reason: They can't afford the costs.

Low-income Americans are falling through gaps in the country's health-care

system, says a new study of health care in the United States, Britain,

Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The Commonwealth Fund 2001 International Health Policy Survey polled

people's attitudes about their nation's health-care systems. The findings,

published in the May/June issue of Health Affairs, show that each nation's

model has its shortcomings, but in the United States the problems weigh

heaviest on the poor.

" There is obviously no floor under people at the bottom who have no health

insurance. So they face ranges of barriers that are just not seen in other

industrialized countries, " says Blendon, study author and a professor

of health policy and management at Harvard University's School of Public

Health.

Roughly 40 million Americans, including 10 million children, live without

health coverage in any given year. While the common belief is that anyone

can go to an emergency room for medical attention, other studies have shown

the reality is far more complex.

" People without insurance feel that they just can't go to a doctor and beg.

It's humiliating. They're not treated well, and then there's a share of

doctors in hospitals who make it very clear that, except in emergency

[situations], they don't want to see you, " Blendon says.

Instead of groveling for attention, many people delay getting the treatment

they need.

Sue is co-chairwoman of a committee assembled by the National

Academies' Institute of Medicine (news - web sites) to examine how a lack of

medical coverage affects the uninsured.

" Nobody has found the perfect answer, but we've got to try, " she says.

Although the four other countries that participated in the survey offer some

form of universal health care, they, too, fail to meet everyone's

requirement.

" There is no utopia in terms of running health systems. All the

industrialized populations are having expectation problems, " Blendon says.

However, it's in America that low-income earners are the hardest hit.

" These are not shifty, lazy citizens, " says. " They're hard-working

Americans. "

Eighty percent of uninsured people work, yet they can't afford the $7,000

year or so to pay for private insurance, says.

In its latest report, the second in a six-part series, the institute

evaluated 130 previously published articles and concluded that uninsured

Americans are more likely to have poorer health and die prematurely than

those with insurance.

Moreover, patients with colon or breast cancer (news - web sites) face up to

a 50 percent greater chance of death than those with private coverage, and

uninsured accident victims face a greater risk of dying from their injuries,

says the institute report.

" Because we don't see many people dying in the streets in this country, we

assume the uninsured manage to get the care they need, but the evidence

refutes that assumption, " says.

The institute's report is a milestone, Blendon says, because it is a wake-up

call for those who think all sick people get treatment, even if they have to

wait long hours in emergency rooms. It validates what many have long

suspected: By denying people adequate access to medical services, the system

endangers lives.

" These people are not going away and that's what the Commonwealth study

showed and the Institute of Medicine's report shows -- that there is a real

tragic loss of life associated with these people delaying care and not

getting it, " Blendon says.

In its final report, the institute plans to analyze the more successful

health-care programs and policies of countries like Britain, Canada,

Australia and New Zealand. It then hopes to offer solutions to the

health-care barriers facing lower-income Americans.