Des Moines Register Editorial: Get everyone covered by 2010
The country can no longer ignore the uninsured.
By Register Editorial Board
01/17/2004
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In the past three years, the number of uninsured Americans has grown by 3 million people – roughly the population of Iowa – leaving 43 million Americans with no health insurance. On Wednesday, the Institute of Medicine recommended the United States find a way to get these people health insurance by 2010.
The panel, part of the National Academy of Sciences, recognizes that having a large uninsured population damages the entire country.
About 18,000 people die each year as a result of being uninsured. Nearly half the uninsured report not seeking medical care when they’re sick. Uninsured car-accident victims receive less care in the hospital and have a higher mortality rate than insured patients. Uncompensated care costs health-care providers more than $35 billion a year. Uninsured children are less likely to receive medical care, and untreated chronic conditions can affect hearing, learning ability and school performance.
One uninsured person in a family jeopardizes the financial stability of the whole family.
The list goes on and on.
A country that doesn’t take care of the health of its people will eventually feel the effects trickling down in other areas. Lost productivity. Lost wages. A strain on schools and human services. Increases in the health-insurance premiums for those fortunate enough to have insurance.
It’s a problem that has to be fixed. The institute doesn’t recommend exactly how to provide health insurance to all, but suggests the most likely way would be a universal system financed through the government.
That’s not as radical as it sounds. After all, Medicare is a universal, government-financed insurance program for people over 65, and it’s wildly popular. It spends only a small percentage of its funding on administration, unlike the wastefully expensive private industry. Yet it’s only available for one segment of America. Why not get serious about devising a way to offer similar coverage to all Americans?
