The Need for Health Insurance Research Assignment Paper

The need for health insurance
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The need for health insurance
Health Insurance is an insurance scheme where the buyer pays a premium per agreed period. In exchange the insurance company undertakes to pay the insured’s health and medical bills should the insured fall sick. On the surface, health insurance seems as an unnecessary inconvenience. Noting it constitutes paying a pre-determined amount in exchange for protection that one may not never require. Modern developments in health such as cell mutations, obesity, lifestyle diseases make the possibility of ailments and sickness higher than it was in previous decades. Mental ailments have also risen in the US. This is in noting the stresses of modern day life on the psyche of the average American. These issues and many more support the need for health insurance. However, health insurance costs have risen in recent years. Attempts by the federal government to cap these costs with the introduction of the Affordable Care Act have resulted in mixed results. The notion of insurance exchanges while fundamentally changing health insurance provision has resulted in a rise in costs. The paper therefore examines both sides of the discourse. The paper will conduct an empirical examination of the facts in its quest to determine the efficacy of health insurance in a post globalized world.
Support for Health Insurance
The statistics however prove the necessity of health insurance, in the past year over 53.6 million children in the US have missed at least one day of school. Modern trends with regard to fitness and physical activity have made the human population more susceptible to illness. According to the President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition less than 34% of children are active physically daily. 80.2 million US citizens are physically inactive. The average American diet is high on added sugars, saturated fats, sodium and refined grains. Obesity rates for children rose from 17.4% to 20.5% between 2003 and 2012. Obesity and related ailments incur 21% of the US healthcare budget.
The cost implications of catering to health costs are prohibitive. Where an individual has no access to health insurance. Costs must be borne by the individual by marshalling resources. The US government caters for 64.3% of healthcare costs. This occurs through welfare programs such as Medicaid, Medicare and the Veteran’s health administration program. The World Bank estimates that the US spends 17.1% of its GDP on healthcare costs. At a personal level, the Center for Disease Control notes that in 16.5% in 2012 had financial problems occasioned by medical bills. 10% of families were unable to pay some medical bills resulting in their declaring bankruptcy. Families who had low incomes relative to the federal poverty level (FPL) were most likely to bear the brunt of medical costs. Families which did not have insurance or which had an uninsured member faced significant burdens of medical care at 39.7% and 46% respectively. Men above the age of 84 representing a significant at risk demographic spent $24,000 per annum on medical costs compared to $31,000 for women in 2013. The cost implications of healthcare without health insurance are exorbita...