Medical insurance provides assistance for families in the event that someone is injured or comes down with some sort of illness. Uninsured Americans are taking a number of risks by not having medical insurance, some of which can lead to family-crippling problems down the line. If you are considering getting rid of your health insurance coverage, it is important to understand the problems that an uninsured American can end up facing.
Preventative Medicine
One of the most important uses of medical coverage is paying for preventative treatments. As an example, having surgery performed to fix a problem with your heart is likely more expensive and troublesome than taking a daily pill that keeps your blood pressure in check. Many uninsured Americans skip the preventative medicine and only visit the doctor or hospital in the event of an emergency, reducing their overall health and increasing their average cost per visit.
Debt
Visiting the hospital is incredibly expensive. If you develop an internal problem and need to stay in the hospital for a couple of weeks, you could be looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills. This debt can weigh down your family and make it harder to buy a house or a new car. While insurance usually takes the brunt of these large bills, uninsured Americans are faced with finding a way to pay them without external assistance.
Access of Care
Having medical insurance means that you can stop by the doctor or dentist for routine checkups or whenever you think a problem might be brewing. It's easier to make the appointment and stop into the office when you know your health insurance provider will help you pick up the tab. Uninsured Americans often have to choose between visiting the doctor or paying for something else, like groceries, utility bills or even recreation. A doctor's visit may simply be too expensive for an uninsured person to justify until the situation becomes an emergency.
Chronic Conditions
Millions of American adults suffer form a wide array of chronic health problems. Asthma, depression, attention deficit disorder and allergies are just some of these problems. An alarming number of uninsured Americans are choosing to skip their medication for managing these health problems simply because they cannot afford the monthly prescription. This leads to a lower quality of life and may even put these people at risk of injury or death. For instance, if you elect to skip your asthma medicine for the month but then have a severe asthma attack, you may end up in the hospital facing even larger bills.
Tags: health insurance, health problems, Uninsured Americans, your health, your health insurance
