Study says uninsured are costly for all

[BlueJessamine]

Source: Yahoo News/AP

WASHINGTON – The average family with health insurance shells out an extra $1,000 a year in premiums to pay for health care for the uninsured, a new report finds.

And the average individual with private coverage pays an extra $370 a year because of the cost-shifting, which happens when someone without medical insurance gets care at an emergency room or elsewhere and then doesn't pay.

The report was being released Thursday by advocacy group Families USA, which said the findings — which it calls a "hidden tax" — support its goal of extending coverage to all the 50 million Americans who are now uninsured. Congress and the Obama administration are working on a plan to do that.

Families USA contracted with independent actuarial consulting firm Milliman Inc. to analyze federal data to produce the findings.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090528/ap_on_he_me/us_health_overhaul_uninsured

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Duh!

[sutz12]

10. We really need a weekly, or perhaps daily "Duh!" Award

We could honor and archive the most obvious and stupid "studies" and reports.

It would be a sad and memorable list, I'm sure.

:shrug:

[NC_Nurse]

2. This needs to be driven home. People are in major denial about the cost of

those who are uninsured and how it runs up costs for ALL of us. When some idiot like
Dubya says "they can go to emergency rooms", nobody stands up to say how much MORE that will cost
than if they had insurance and went to their own doctor instead. It's ridiculous and the only ones that benefit from this
current set up are the insurance companies that don't get exposed as the primary reason for this BULLSHIT. They get to
pick and choose who they cover and charge high premiums while the rest of us pay for those they leave behind.

Absolutely disgusting. Any REAL discussion of healthcare reform costs should be taking this into account. Unfortunately, the industry
is controlling the debate - as usual.

[RamboLiberal]

4. Exactly - I've never understood why Dems haven't made

this a talking point and pound it out ad nausem. Great point for single-payer.

[Hello_Kitty]

5. It was an issue during the primaries. But it was twisted to demonize the uninsured.

Thanks to some of our Dem candidates and people like Paul Krugman characterizing the uninsured as deadbeats and scofflaws, the conversation became all about mandates and fines rather than health care. Your typical uninsured person is young and working in a crappy job with no benefits. The cheapest policy they can usually find is bullshit catastrophic coverage with huge out-of-pocket costs in addition to the monthly premiums.

[PDJane]

3. Add in the cost of lost work days and lost lives

Due to lack of insurance, and it gets really expensive. There are at least 18,000 'excess deaths' per year.

[Lars39]

8. Also cost of eventual disability payments.

[UndertheOcean]

6. And why are the uninsured charges double and triple what Insurance companies are charged?

what a big scam

[daggahead]

7. Really? It took a study? Really? n/t

[demigoddess]

9. years and years ago there was an article in the paper about this

A guy with insurance went to emergency room and hospital, when he saw his bill there were lots of items that had nothing to do with him. He questioned the billing department of the hospital and they told him that the extra charges were for someone who had no insurance coverage who was in the emergency room right before him. It was standard practice to divide up those charges and add them to the bills of people who did have insurance or the money to pay. Not to mention all the other ways we pay. In more cases of contagious diseases spread by people who cannot afford to go to a doctor or stay home when sick.

[OhioChick]

11. This is one of those "no shit" headlines. n/t

[tridim]

12. And is that extra $1000 used to pay the medical bills..

Or is it to pay the lawyers to sue the uninsured?

[nichomachus]

13. This is just a way to pit us against each other

The high cost of medical care is because of administrative waste, exorbitant executive salaries, and skimming by corporations.

This sort of "statistic" just makes us point fingers at each other. Please, don't allow them to do that.

"Immigrants are costing you money"
"The uninsured are costing you money"

No -- corporate greed is costing us money -- nothing more, nothing less.

[RamboLiberal]

14. No it is not - who do you think pays these?

There are the costs involved when uninsured need medical care if they can get it of:

Salaries of the medical personnel & non-medical personnel (think clerks, janitors, security, etc.).

Overhead costs of the building(Lights, Heating, Insurance, Supplies, etc.)

Drugs & Medical Supplies (even though they are overpriced as charged)

All that is factored in to our insurance bills or in to the taxes we pay our states and feds.

And I don't dispute the damn Health Insurance industry is loaded with bloat and that is a chunk of the costs we pay as well.

Doesn't make me blame the uninsured but makes me know we need single payer.

[Joanne98]

15. Insured in U.S. Paid ‘Hidden Health Tax,’ Group Says

Source: Bloomberg

May 28 (Bloomberg) -- American families with medical coverage incurred a “hidden health tax” of $1,017 each last year as insurers passed on costs for the uninsured, according to a report by an advocate of U.S.-backed care.

The levy was paid by employers or the households themselves, and insured individuals without family coverage each paid surcharges of $368 in 2008, said the report today by Families USA, a Washington-based nonprofit that urges government-sponsored health care.

Lawmakers, the insurance industry and other groups are debating changes to the way Americans get medical care. Congressional Democrats would like some form of government- backed coverage to compete with private plans, while insurers and Republican leaders oppose that idea. President Barack Obama said he wants to cover more people and lower the cost.

“Unless and until health-care is expanded, businesses and insured families will continue to be hit hard by a hidden tax,” said Ron Pollack, the executive director of Families USA, at a news conference.


Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20603037&sid=aEG2ObspcKpA&refer=home

[zbdent]

16. I remember a time when that was a REPUKE talking point ...

that the emergency rooms were providing service to those who couldn't pay for it, and the "burden" was on all the people paying insurance ...

now that it's something that can be used to take down the insurance industry, the Repukes are saying "But the uninsured can get health care ... at the emergency room!" (when a minor situation, which could have been treated in the early stages by preventative care, blows into a serious, life-threatening situation, and the sick person has nothing left but to go to the E.R. ...)

[XemaSab]

20. Seriously

Today someone asked on DU "Do folks die on the waiting-room floor in the ER in Canada?"

My thought was "Probably not, since a) people go to the doctor when they're sick and b) people don't wait until they're on death's door to go to the ER."

[MichiganVote]

17. Yup...and its not like employers alone are footing this bill.

[RC]

18. I wonder how much ‘Hidden Health Tax’ we are paying for bonuses and junkets and

Golden Parachutes and Prime time health company commercials and bribes to our congress critters and out right fraud in the health insurance companies?

[Joanne98]

19. Tons

[jwirr]

21. Does this amount include the co-pays when you get medicaid and

medicare?