Affordable Health Insurance in Florida – A Domestic Crisis?

Health Insurance can mean a safety net for you and your entire family. In this uncertain world of manmade and natural disasters, we all need a provision of basic security. But more and more often, the term is coming to mean a major worry factor in most of our lives. The number of those without insurance is no longer limited to just the poor, but increasingly most of us. A recent study detailed that nearly 47 million people, i.e. around 16% of Americans, do not have health coverage. Florida ranks 46th out of the 50 states in the number of uninsured- a whopping 21.2 %. The call of the day therefore, is to take immediate steps for providing affordable health insurance.

Most people are provided health insurance cover by their employers. However, the increasing number of people switching jobs regularly, or opting for either self employment or early retirement, is contributing to a proportionate increase in the number of uninsured persons. They are then left with no option but to purchase individual insurance plans which can be quite expensive. However, the cost of doing nothing can be far worse. Statistics show that more than half of all personal bankruptcies in the US are caused by medical bills. Having health insurance protects us from high health care cost that most of us would be unable to pay in any other way.

Although different kinds of health insurance plans are available, in Florida, as in most other states, access to individual health insurance is not guaranteed. Insurance agencies are free to refuse to sell you a policy, or to restrict your benefits depending upon your health status, age, gender, the kind of coverage you want to buy and other circumstances. What makes the problem worse, is that the state’s risk pool which ensures medical coverage to those who cannot medically get private insurance (due to a pre-existing illness) – has been closed to new enrollees since 1991.

On the brighter side, low-income residents who cannot afford to buy private insurance with high premiums, are offered help through the Medicaid and Florida KidCare programmes which offer free or subsidized health insurance coverage, direct medical services and other help. Also most people are able to deduct their health insurance premiums from their Federal taxable incomes. This provides them with an important tax saving and must surely contribute towards making health insurance more affordable.
The Sunshine State is a leader in biomedical innovation and Medicaid Reform. However it lags behind in providing safe medical care and affordable health insurance. Florida health insurance ranks ‘high’ as regards to the cost of healthcare as compared to other states, while the quality of that care is termed as ‘low’. Healthcare options need to be expanded, home and community based services made more accessible. Focus needs to be given to awareness and prevention of substance abuse and mental illness. Funding for mental health treatment is so poor as to rank the state almost last in the nation. Fitness and nutrition initiatives also require attention.
The absence of reliable health care and affordable health insurance in Florida is therefore a big domestic crisis and needs to be worked out, whether through universal health care, guaranteed issue or expansion of state risk pools. Only in this way will the state population be guaranteed the peace of mind that they deserve, not just in case of emergencies, but also for routine and preventive medical care.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 25th, 2008 at 11:09 am and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.