According to the US censun Bureau over 42.6 million Americans are uninsured. Out of that number 10 million are children. These numbers are horrific and seem to be on the rise.
Now these numbers also only include Americans, not illegal immigrants who don’t deal with the census bureau or any other government institution. That means that the numbers are quite higher.
I have been on all three sides of the health insurance argument. I have been insured, uninsured, and part of a Socialized health care system. I can honestly say that hands down, health insurance in the best way to go.
When not insured you refuse to go and see the doctor because you are afraid of the costs, the tests costs, and, the medication cost. It’s all about cost when you have no insurance. When you are part of a Socialized system, it’s all about waiting. You can wain in a clinic to see a GP, then be given a referral to see a specialist. Then it is up to you to find a specialist and get on his waiting list which you are lucky is less than three months, but usually more like six. Then when you see that specialist he prescribes tests that take time, and so forth. That is why I know that having health insurance is the best way to go.
You can see a doctor when you need to. You can go to the emergency room without fear. You do not need to go to clinics where you wait for hours at a time. You can get prescriptions filled, tests. Most of all you get a sense of relief in knowing that in any situation you will be okay, especially if you have insured your family also.
So why do roughly 15% of Americans opt to not have health insurance? It’s not out of choice it’s out of necessity. Many people can’t afford to get it, plain and simple. As a result instead of seeing a doctor when people begin to feel ill, they will wait until the last minute when there is nothing that can be done.
If people could just understand the importance of health insurance and the long term benifits they would be more likely to get it. They get scared when they have to choose between HMO and PPO. What to do if you have to pick a physician from a list? What about co-pays, and prescriptions. What happens if you are out of town and something happens? What happens when you reach your deductible, what is too low of a deductible and too high of a deductible?
The questions mount and mount, and the answers seem harder and harder to get. But the simple truth is that by not having health insurance for yourself or your family you are playing with their lives, literally. If someone comes down with an illness that was treatable in the beginning but now needs operations, tests, follow-upecialists, and many medications, what are you going to do? What if that person, or you die? What then when it all could have be prevented? It all could have been avoided had you made a few payments a year for insurance.
It is actually quite simple to get health insurance. The agents are more than willing to sit with you and answer questions. Help you pick out the best plan for you and your family. They will help you decide on a good deductible, and a good plan that is affordable to you, but still covers what it needs to. Insurance Companies are not the enemy, they actually want to help. Like any company they want to make money too, but they are not willing to make it at the loss of lives.
As soon as people start to look at how easy it is to get health insurance and how it is affordable if you get the right plan, there is hope that people will start to get it. People will opt for health insurance over waiting until they get so sick that they either lose everything they have to pay the bills, or the ultimate price of losing their life.