Where does
someone go that has lost their job, and has no insurance? Resources may be limited.
The Facts of Uninsured Patients
It may be
surprising to hear, but currently 33 million Americans still have no
insurance.
Nearly 9
million people gained insurance last year, a win for “Obamacare as the
president’s signature health care law expanded Medicaid and opened health
insurance exchanges. And yet, 33 million Americans, 10.4 percent of the U.S.
population, still went without health insurance for the entirety of 2014.
Millions more were uninsured for at least part of the year. Information released this month shows they
were disproportionately poor, black and Hispanic; 4.5 million of them were
children. It is not a surprise that some
Americans still do not have health
insurance. Despite aiming to insure everyone in the U.S., the Affordable Care
Act left significant gaps in coverage, and decisions made by the law’s
opponents have denied benefits to millions of people it was designed to help.
But the new numbers reveal that most of the uninsured last year were people who
should have been able to access insurance under the law. That presents a major
challenge for President Obama in the final years of his term, but also an
opportunity: Millions of Americans qualify for coverage but, for whatever
combination of reasons, have not yet signed up.
The White House has said
it will focus this year’s enrollment push on the remaining uninsured. So it is
worth taking a closer look at who those people were. Most of them, about 56
percent, fell into three major groups
that were widely expected to have high insurance rates: immigrants, young
adults and people in the so-called Medicaid gap.
But that still left more than 14 million Americans who do not have insurance and do not fall into any of
these categories.
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Finding Health Care
The average
visit to a doctor when you are uninsured is $200. For a person that has lost a job, that can be
a significant amount out of the family budget.
Many people take regular medications that require a prescription, and
without insurance, there may be no prescribing physician, not to mention the
cost of the medication itself. It can be
devastating for a family that has no health care coverage.
Options for Uninsured Patients
Many
cities across the country now have free clinics, or clinics based on
income. This can literally be a
lifesaver for someone without insurance coverage. The problem however with many of these
clinics is, they help those that have very limited income, however what happens
to those that still have some income.
Perhaps one spouse is still working, but
insurance coverage is not an option.
If an income went from $75k to $12k in unemployment, that is a
significant drop, and of course the house payment and all bills remained the
same. How can a person in this category
afford say $250 per month in prescriptions?
There really is no simple answer.
In many cases it is now middle America that suffers the most from the
health care crisis.
So what are
the options? There are direct pay
doctors. Most charge a monthly
membership fee, which usually ranges from $20-$50. With that fee, you may have a co-pay for
visits, but generally it's between $10-20.
This entitles you to have a doctor, and helps from the high cost of
visits with no insurance. Many of the
direct pay doctors will work with the patient to prescribe the most cost
effective medications, and they will often be familiar with the least expensive
pharmacy to purchase it.
There are also
prescription savings apps now that help to locate the lowest price on
prescription medications, this can offer substantial savings. Some pharmaceutical companies also offer
patient assist programs that can help to get medications at low, or no cost,
depending on patient's income.
There are
options for uninsured or underinsured patients, and as a nurse you should have
some knowledge of this. A case manager
or social worker can better explain their options, and guide them in the right
direction. Always encourage patients to
continue on their medications, and to seek out helpful resources if and when
needed.
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