Health Care - The Uninsured

Part of virtually every discussion concerning the state of health care in the U.S. is a reference to the uninsured. Given that, we assume that the group of uninsured must be a very important part of the problem. We need to better understand just what is meant by the ubiquitous “uninsured”. We’ll likely all agree that it is a very serious part of the problem confronting us as a nation.

We hear of the ever-increasing number of uninsured. The former top number for the United States was 46 million…until it became 47 Million. That seemed to occur overnight. I don’t know who is responsible for keeping track of that number, but they sure seem on top of their game! If only our census were as accurate as the press and “special interest groups” [remember the earlier blog about special interest groups?] would have us believe is the estimate of uninsured.

Let’s take a look at what comprises the “uninsured”. First…this is not a static group of people; instead, the number of “uninsured” is an estimate…a snapshot…of the number of folks thought to be without health insurance on any given day of the year.

Please also note that I used the phrase, “without health insurance”. That is a much different phrase than had I said “without access to health care”. Every person in the United States has access to health care…by virtue of Federal law. It is true however that much of that health care is received in Emergency Rooms, and that is a significant part of our nation’s problem. The care is received too late in the wrong setting to be of lasting value to the individual. The care is also delivered in the most expensive possible setting and much of that cost is unreimbursed and therefore is “shifted” to the insurance premiums paid by individuals and employers.

The current number de jour for the uninsured in Wisconsin is 546,870. That number has increased each year but has remained fairly constant so far as it’s comparison to the total population of the state. Using the most recent census numbers for Wisconsin, coupled with an analysis by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and the Congressional Budget Office estimates of the make-up of the group called “uninsured”, we see an emerging picture made up of these parts:
*people who are eligible for existing government programs but who have failed to enroll
*middle class people who earn more than $50,000 per year and who believe they cannot afford or choose not to buy insurance
*people who are classified as the short-term uninsured [up to two years without insurance, recent college graduates, seasonal workers and those who are young and therefore invincible]
*the long-term uninsured who simply have fallen between the cracks and remain uninsured for a long time

In Part Two of this blog, we’ll look at the distribution of Wisconsin’s 546,870 uninsured based upon the segments identified above. I think you’ll be surprised; I know I was. And I’ve been more intimately involved in the insurance and health care industries than many.