A Variety of Health Insurance News Tidbits
In this edition of the Health Insurance News Roundup, I found a few interesting health insurance related articles to share with you this week. The first article with the worrisome title, "Physician Shortage Will Stop Universal Health Insurance Dead in Tracks," in EmaxHealth magazine, discusses how a lack of qualified general physicians will cripple any universal health care plan because, according to the article, "these physicians who manage 80% of all health care needs of our population."
The main problems that attribute to this lack of general practitioners, according to the article, include "enormous unsatisfying paperwork" and the "difficult environment" of general primary care. Another large reason many young doctors are turned off from general practice is the reimbursement structure, which according to the article aren't keeping up with the costs of running a practice. This leads student doctors to choose more lucrative and specialized fields. The article goes onto say if this problem isn't solved soon, universal health coverage just won't work. It's not the first I've read of this reimbursement problem, so I'm sure it has merit, but it'll be interesting to see what's done about it as part of a universal health care plan.
In a slightly related article, entitled, "Crowded ER? Don't blame the uninsured," from the Los Angeles Times, they cite that the rise in emergency room usage has more to do with "the aging of the population, the increase in chronic diseases, and the decrease in available primary care," rather than with an increase in the number of uninsured people. While the amount of uninsured people in the U.S. has increased, a report from the University of Michigan says they aren't to blame for the rise in emergency room usage and wait times. This goes against the well-established school of thought that blames the uninsured for long waits at emergency rooms. A commentator in the article says the solution to crowded emergency rooms is, like the previous article, more primary care providers. It'll be interesting to see if this problem -- the problem of access to health care -- rather than money or policy will affect any push we have toward universal coverage.
The next article comes to us from the Tuscon Citizen newspaper and is entitled, "Real health insurance reform starts with real choice." In this article, author Gracie-Marie Turner is of the opinion that government should not expand governmental health care programs or add "burdensome" regulations that add to the cost of health insurance coverage. Rather, she feels government should work to ensure that affordable health insurance is available to everyone. This means, according to the author, that competition should be encouraged among health insurance companies and that health insurance policies should be custom-tailored to meet an individual patient's or family's needs. In her opinion, government should be encouraging customer choice in choosing one's health care coverage. I'm of the opinion that choice is fine as long as everyone has access to health care, not just those who can afford it.
Our final article comes to us from WebMD, entitled "Many Children Lack Health Insurance." This article by author Caroline Wilbert, she discusses how, in many low and middle income families, to save money one or both parents might have health insurance while their children do not. According to the study, between one million and three million children and teenagers don't have coverage while one or both of their parents do, and the number is increasing. The article says that since health insurance premiums are expected to rise, this problem is also expected to grow over time.
This concludes this edition of the Weekly Health Insurance News Roundup. I hope you've found it entertaining, enlightening and enjoyable. Until next time, have a happy and healthy day.
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