The number and percentage of uninsured children rose in 2017 after a decade of improvement. One in five uninsured children live in Texas, according to recent research. The number of uninsured people in the US overall is rising but the percentage of uninsured remained at 8.8% overall.
What does this actually mean as a matter of public health policy? Are those without health insurance actually being denied access to healthcare? Or is the quality or quantity of care affected? There is much written on this topic but the answers are not easy to discern. Maryland health officer Russell Roy writes: “Uninsured people receive less medical care and less timely care
, they have worse health outcomes, and lack of insurance is a fiscal burden for them and their families”.
At Freedom Benefits our anecdotal observation is that once a person has access to the healthcare system they have a much better chance of receiving high quality ongoing care
, with or without ongoing insurance. Some people, even with health insurance, never gain access to the healthcare system. This appears to be because some people do not have the cash for office visits or required co-copayments. For this reason we focus on coverage that provides easy and affordable up-front access to the healthcare system. Benefits in the affordable health insurance plans are limited but at least the patient is ‘in the door’ of the healthcare system. Once inside the healthcare system, professionals tend to have more resources to provide for continued patient care.
Having health insurance is important but it is more important to have easy access to the healthcare system regardless of insurance.