Health Insurance Affects A Person Health Care Act

Health insurance comes as second nature to many of us. We grab that blue and white card and put it in our wallet and forget about it until we are sick or injured. When this happens, there it is, cushioning our fall like the extra padding it provided to cushion our wallets. This is not the case with everyone, however. Many Americans have no cushion to fall back on, no blue and white card to show the emergency room when they have an unexpected health concern. No HMO with a convenient co-pay amount when their son or daughter develops an ear infection.

Prior to this shift, government involvement in health insurance services was minimal since it seemed to be under control by the non-profit sector. There didn’t seem to be an urgent need to control or universalize health care at the time. The government’s first interest in the health care industry sparked when employers began providing health care benefits as a competitive advantage for recruiting workers back into the workforce during World War II. To help cope with the rising unemployment rates, the government would offer tax incentives to employers providing these benefits. (add Quote)

The lack of health insurance reached began to become a serious issue in the mid-1990’s reaching a crisis level in the 2000’s. Individuals without insurance turned to emergency rooms across the country to obtain care routine care, turning emergency departments into primary care facilities. In many instances, people who presented at emergency rooms for treatment could not be turned away due to various health and safety regulations; therefore, patients were seen without the ability to pay often leaving the hospitals with millions of dollars in uncollectable debt, subsequently leading to the insolvency of hundreds of hospitals across the United States.

No one plans to have oneself or a family member diagnosed with a chronic disease or to be involved in a debilitating accident. Unfortunately, these situations are all too familiar and can happen every day. Having health insurance when these life changing events occur can provide a person or family

The Affordable Care Act has made many positive changes for uninsured and underinsured citizens. With the addition of a program called Health Insurance Marketplace, it is now possible for uninsured people in every state to purchase private insurance plans, those making under 400% or less of the Federal Poverty Level will be able to have tax credits making insurance more affordable (Lathrop & Hodnicki, 2014). Insurance companies are no longer allowed to cancel a policy or raise rates when a client gets sick. Insurance companies cannot refuse coverage to individuals with preexisting conditions such as cancer (“Quality Improvement,” 2015). Insurance companies now must cover preventive care and screenings allowing diseases like cancer to be caught early (“Quality Improvement,” 2015). Research has shown that through health screenings

The depression in the 1930’s brought about the Social Security Act. This, however, omitted health insurance. Blue Cross also started offering people hospital care insurance in several states.

US health care is one of the most talked about or controversial topics in last few years. We often come across debates, articles or columns relating to this topic. This is a hot topic of this generation. Why everyone should have insurance? Why people should have for something that might not use? These are some of the questions we found ourselves surrounding by. In my opinion US citizens should be required to have insurance. Both men and women have separate needs when it comes to health. More women are facing health issues because of teen pregnancies and child birth, it is important to for everyone to have a health care plan according to their needs. So when the time comes right treatment and medical attention can be provided. In this piece I will be presenting some ideas and arguments supporting my side and also looking at the flip side of the discussion.

Health insurance is very important to everyone in our society, because it help give everyone a since of peace. When an individual is sick worrying about how to pay for healthcare services can add additional burden to the individual who and family is sick. Where there you are employed or unemployed it is a great benefit to have health insurance coverage, healthcare services is on the rise and the lack of not having a way to pay for such services can be of great disadvantage for an individual to take good care of their health. There are several health insurance company one can purchased insurance coverage from, however I have researched two of the major health insurance carriers in which I was able to compare the costs of covering healthcare services. BCBS of North Carolina and Medicaid of North Carolina are both great health insurance carriers in my opinion.

Someone without health coverage are less likely to receive preventative care and therefore more likely to become ill which increases medical costs, [1].

Healthcare in itself in the United States is a budding concept. The first ever insurance plans would pop up during the Civil War from 1861 to 1865. In 1929, there would be a formation of the first health plan for a group of people. This would take place by a group of teachers in Dallas, Texas, they would be contracted with Baylor Hospital to provide rooms, board, and medical services this would be in exchange for a monthly fee that would be charged by the hospital. There would be several large life insurance companies that would decide to enter the field of healthcare starting from the 1930 's to 1940 's as health insurance would grow in its popularity ("The History of Health Insurance," 2007).

Healthcare didn’t always exist in the United States. Before the 1920’s, most people didn’t have health coverage. Most people were treated at home and hardly anyone, except a few large employers offered healthcare. Everyone else paid out of pocket. As the population shifted from rural areas to urban centers, families lived in smaller homes with less room to care for sick family members (Faulkner 1960, p. 509). Increasing requirements for licensing and accreditation, in addition to a rising demand for medical care, eventually led to rising costs. By the end of 1920s, there was an increased demand for medical care and the costs of medical care increased.

Throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century the United States has always had a realization that there was a problem with obtaining affordable health insurance. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) also known as Obamacare, was signed into law in March 2010. This law enables people who were unable to afford healthcare the ability to obtain a healthcare plan at an affordable rate. In 2009 a survey was taken as to the amount of people in the United States that carried health insurance. In table one below you can see over 50 million people in the United States did not have any type of insurance, which is close to 17 percent of the population (see table 1 below). “According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, “32%

According to the US Census Bureau, around 33 million people in the United States of America did not have health insurance in 2014. That is about 10.4 percent of the US population. I was fortunate enough to have insurance growing up. I remember when my father lost his job when I was quite young, my mother was very worried because he had no health insurance. He was not worried about it as much as she was, but unfortunately, he fell off his bike and fractured his knee and forearm. He was so stressed out about how he was going to pay for it because unemployment was definitely not going to help. He had to take out a loan and luckily got a job soon after so he could pay it off quickly. Many people are not able to pay off loans for medical services so quickly. We live in the richest nation on earth and we should not go without health care. It could stop medical bankruptcies, improve public health, reduce overall healthcare spending, and help small businesses. Health care should be a necessary government service. According to a 2009 study from Harvard

“Insured individuals may exercise less caution ( Eg smoking)… insured individuals may seek professional intervention at a lower level of illness severity, demand a higher quality of care, or not shop as carefully for least cost providers as uninsured individuals. (Hale, 2012, p. 117)

The 19th century had many important breakthroughs for worker and the whole health care industry leading up to present day. The social factors that promoted managed care in the 19th century are some insurances offered insurance policies to cover the cost of care for workplace accidents and employee disability, (Kongstvedt, 2013). This was highly beneficial and has helped infinite employers cover have insurances plans in place for employees who get hurt on the job. Employees have the worker’s compensation or disability to cover the cost of on the job injuries and receive compensation for them. Another social factor that influenced the 19th century was the 1937 Group Health Association which started in Washington, D.C.