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There are a phenomenal number of people living in America right now who have no health insurance. I don't have the exact number, and I suspect, nobody does, but it is said to be around 40%.

Think about that for a moment. 40% - or 2 out of every 5 people.

That is a remarkable figure and if it doesn't concern you, it should. You may be thinking you are OK, you have your health plan which you pay for in every paycheck. But did you know you are also paying for all those people without any insurance?

Many of those without insurance still have health problems as we all do. The problem is they don't have a Primary Care Physician (PCP). So when they have a stubborn fever, what do they do? Off to the Emergency Room. Hospitals are required to treat patients with Emergency symptoms, whether they have health insurance or not. So, those without insurance basically treat their local friendly ER as their PCP. And hospitals have Charity and Financial Assistance which dramatically reduce the patient's bill. For the hospital (and other providers) it is a sound decision to offer these discounts. It is a case of receiving some payment is better than receiving none at all.

But the hospital still has to pay it's bills. It's overheads are not reduced because they are seeing self pay patients. So, their charges go up. This does not affect self pay patients very much - they still only end up paying a small percentage of the charges. It does affect the amount your insurance pays when you go to the ER in a genuine emergency. Because the insurance companies are paying more, their profits are reduced and that is why your premiums continue to rise.

What's the answer? I have no idea. But someone somewhere is going to have to come up with a solution soon, or that 40% figure will rise inexorably higher as more and more people cannot afford health insurance.

Learn more about this author, Jack Beamon.
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