Several Health Insurance Topics in the Spotlight

Hello, and welcome to this installment of the Weekly Health Insurance News Roundup. Much of the recent news regarding health insurance is still focused on presidential politics and the election. In order not to be repetitive of our previous issue that focused solely on presidential politics, and to try to cover other interesting topics regarding health care and health insurance, I have found some other interesting articles on health insurance that I’d like to share.

The first piece of news comes to us by way of a report released from the Economic Policy Institute entitled, “The Erosion of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance.” In this report, they take a look at coverage of individuals from employers, and the results are somewhat frightening. The big finding is that employer-sponsored health insurance dropped dramatically from 2000 to 2007, from 68.3% in 2000 to 62.9% in 2007. This means over 3,000,000 less people under 65 had health insurance in 2007 than in 2000. These declines were felt across the board, and weren’t limited to any race, economic sector or any other group. We all felt it. The numbers of uninsured match this accordingly. In 2000, 15.9% of workers under 65 were uninsured, compared with 18.1% of workers in 2007. This means roughly four million more people were uninsured in 2007 than they were in 2000.

The numbers for insured children were also on the decline between 2000 and 2007, according to the report. The numbers are about the same spread as uninsured adults, from 65.9% covered in 2000 to 59.5% in 2007. On the other end of the spectrum, however, public provided health insurance rose from 2000 to 2007, notably through the Medicaid program for seniors and the SCHIP program for children. Overall, the program states that “there are many Americans who are falling through the growing gulf between employer-sponsored coverage and government health programs.” They suggest in their conclusions that a universal health care system would be best for all Americans, and I’m fully inclined to agree.

Our next article, entitled “Doctors Know Little About Consumer-Directed Health Plans,” comes to us from The Washington Post. In the article, they discuss how doctors more and more have to discuss the subject of money and costs with their patients, something neither them nor their patients are comfortable with or used to. According to Dr. Hoangmai H. Pham, a senior health researcher at the Center for Studying Health System Change in Washington, D.C, he’s not sure that “it’s at all clear in insurers’ minds what role they want doctors to play, and I don’t think physicians themselves are clear on what they’re comfortable with.”

As more and more employers are trying to get their employees to switch to consumer-directed health insurance plans — which usually include a health savings account and have high premiums — both doctors and patients are finding their roles changing, and therefore their needs changing along with it. It’s probably a confusing time to be a doctor in the current volatile environment, and that confusion bleeds down onto patients, who are also confused. Hopefully things will clear up for everyone involved as more time, resources and education are put into these health plans, but only time will tell.

This concludes this edition of the Weekly Health Insurance News Roundup. I hope you’ve found it interesting and enjoyable, and I thank you for reading it. Until next time, may you be healthy and happy.

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• Video: Several Health Insurance Topics in the Spotlight
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