The U.S. Census Bureau reports that an increasing number of people are now unable to afford medical insurance. Some 47 million people do not have medical insurance. When they begin to fall sick, there is nothing that can be done if money is short. When it comes to a choice between food on the table and treatment, most people decide to eat. They hope they will get better. When health does not improve, there is no improvement in the choice to be made. If treatment remains unaffordable, they have to wait until their sickness worsens to the point it can be considered an emergency. At this point, people decide to go to the emergency room at their local hospital.
Federal law is very clear. Hospitals are under a positive legal obligation to treat everyone who walks in through the door. It does not matter whether the emergency is real, in the sense of a traffic accident inflicting unexpected injury, or to some extent manufactured, where the condition only becomes an emergency because of a deliberate delay. People must be given treatment.
The difficulty is that most of the uninsured cannot afford to pay their bills. The hospitals can and do issue invoices for the treatment given and drugs supplied. This is also a part of the law. People have a responsibility to pay for their treatment. But hospitals are realistic about their chances of collecting. Continued pursuit for payment usually results in bankruptcy and the creditors only get a few cents in the dollar. So, hospitals make a rational decision. They spread all the unpaid bills among all those who can pay.
In other words, whether you are paying out of your own pocket or you are relying on your own health insurance to pay for your treatment, a percentage of every hospital's bill is a provision against bad debts from the uninsured. The irony is that everyone who is insured is also insuring all the uninsured for their emergency room visits.
If you have been wondering why your own health insurance premiums have been going up so sharply of late, it's because there is a wave of uninsured people going to the emergency rooms around the country. The health insurers are having to pay more and this additional cost gets passed on in the premiums. Is it going to get any better? No. It's actually going to get worse. Ever more people are finding health insurance unaffordable.
Even with sites like this which allow people to find the cheapest insurance around, many still find the premiums too much. That does not mean you should give up. Using this site will get you offers. Then it's up to you to negotiate directly with the insurer or its agents to get the best actual premium for the cover. It's not worth the risk of being uninsured. If at all possible, get some cover.
According to the NHANES 2001 to 2004, about two-thirds of adults in the U.S. are overweight and almost one-third are obese. If this were to continue, everyone in the U.S. could be overweight in forty years time. Some groups are already heading in that direction. It's hard to believe, but more 80% of African-American women are overweight. About 90% of Mexican-American men could be overweight in 25 years time. But there will probably be one or two people who resist the lure of the land of plenty and stay thin. We'll probably never actually get to 100%. Whoopee!
But let's get serious. Well, there's a proven link between being overweight and life-shortening conditions such as stroke, congestive heart failure, cancer and osteoarthritis. It would be fair to say that life insurance companies get very interested when you start talking about behavioral risk factors and mortality rates. Now add in the fact that overweight women who smoke are five times more likely to die young than non-smokers.
So the life insurance companies have produced a type of list. They classify people according to their risk of dying. If you're a "super preferred" you're disgustingly healthy with no bad habits. You're going to live decades longer than anyone else so you get the lowest premiums. But if you're only "preferred", the premiums have started to rise because you have a shorter life expectancy. The average U.S. life pays the "standard" rate. And then come all the others with discouraging titles suggesting you may die tomorrow. How does this affect you? Well, your premiums will be high if you are overweight. The rates will rise further if you have high blood pressure or high levels of cholesterol. If there's a family history of cancer, stroke, heart disease or anything else dealing out death, more increases. And then some companies double the rate if you're a smoker.
What should you do? Well, never lie about it. That gives life insurance companies the right to cancel the policy. The companies want real evidence that you're prepared to change your lifestyle. Obviously, you can't do anything about your family history, but you can quit smoking and lose weight. Make regular visits with your local health provider and have blood tests to show improving levels of cholesterol and lipids, keep records of falling blood pressure, etc. With evidence of continuing motivation for better health, you can resubmit your application for a life policy and negotiate a premium reduction.
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