Workers Without Health Insurance - Essay Example

Running head: MEDICALLY DISENFRANCHISED: WORKERS WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE Workers Without Health Insurance ) (Your Name) MEDICALLY DISENFRANCHISED: WORKERS WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE Introduction Health care usually embraces the treatment, prevention and management of illnesses through services offered by nursing, medical or allied health service providers. The World Health Organization describes the current state of health care as in acute shortage especially in this era where most employers do not offer insurance services to their employees. This paper will discuss the issue of health care provision through provision of medical cover to workers. It will also dwell on the implications of lack of insurance for workers in the U.S leading to people becoming medically disenfranchised. It will also look at the disparities that arise as a result of high cost of insurance covers in the modern society and how this will affect other sectors like the economy, education, aging population and other social implications by linking the relationship between nursing and medical cover policies and systems. It will finally draw a conclusive recommendation on how workers can be provided with medical covers to enhance their heath care service provision. The primary source of health insurance covers in the United States is the employer-sponsored insurance -ESI1. ESI offers job-based health benefits which are in some cases subsidized by the federal government by exempting employer tax on health insurance premiums. In certain companies there are private employer sponsored which are voluntary and depends on the company's financial ability to meet the health care requirement for its entire workforce. Since not all employers offer insurance covers to its employees, not all workers have insurance policies and consequently, their children and spouses do not have them. Background research In most cases, people who are not insured are either workers or family members of the workers. Previous research has shown that most American citizens obtain their health insurances through their employment agencies. However, some working environments do not find it economically possible to offer health insurance services to its workers. These working environments include; those who earn low wages, short job tenures, working part-time or those with low incomes2. In 2003, the Kaiser commission of inquiry reported that of the 124 million workers who were uninsured, 80% of them were self employed and this can be explained by the fact that these group of people do not get access to group insurance which is somehow cheaper. Another group of uninsured workers who formed the remaining percentage were workers with non-working spouses. Causes of medical disenfranchisement People become medically disenfranchised because they lack proper medical insurance cover that they can depend on whenever they are not feeling well. Poor health care in America today has been blamed on lack of worker insurance policies and programs leading to high costs of medical services. As many people continue to work as casuals and part-time jobs, in addition to low wages and salaries, they are not able to meet the medical requirements needed not only by themselves but also by their families. This has led to increased number of people who operate without medical and insurance covers for a better part of their lives. In fact, research has shown that three out five working Americans are not covered with insurance covers. This trend has in the past sparked a lot of condemnation from all quarters especially from government critics. Pressure is therefore building on employers to ensure that all its employees are insured. However, with increased incidences of political unwillingness, societal diversity and stagnating economies, it is no longer economically visible to offer all people the medical insurance cover they need. The burden has been therefore left to the workers to seek private insurance covers, which are very expensive to them. With this kind of situation, majority of the people are beginning to stay away from the whole issue. Since the practice is however very expensive and cannot be economically possible for small scale companies to adopt, the workers in these businesses are left to pay their own premiums for medical insurance and a majority of them cannot afford it3. The effect for this can only be felt by the workers themselves who are forced to do away with proper health care and seek for what is available within their means. This is part and parcel of the common man's living style as most of their expenses are placed on health care in expense of other things such as education, shelter and luxuries. Such scenarios make people medically disenfranchised for a lot time and the result is stress and death The soaring costs of health care services are the major reason explaining why most people do not get insured. Most firms are finding it difficult to keep up with the high costs of offering employer-sponsored insurance services. The moral contribution usually placed on medical -related businesses is currently not upheld. Most insurance companies are doing it just for profit and nothing else. Most nursing centers are finding the cooperation between themselves and medical insurance companies very fragile and little can be done to assist people with no insurance get better health care services. Rising costs of health care services Complete lack of health insurance among most workers in America every year entails the costs of health care in the terms of rising costs of medical services has lead to health deficits and educational losses for children. There has also been financial stress and instability for health insurance companies and institutions due to the inability by medical centers to lower the cost of drugs. There has also been a significant increase in number of diseases that have become problematic and require frequent medical attention. They include, AIDS, cancer, psychological dysfunction, etc The American government invests in health service provisions for those who have health insurance covers through publicly sponsored coverage and other incentives4. A certain percentage of the people also benefit from health services especially those workers who are uninsured and the aging population. In fact, public spending on health services for the insured workers are becoming increasingly good but compared those workers who are uninsured; they do not get enough benefits. The dollars alone do not have satisfactory benefits for an individual who is not insurance. There are certain benefits, which are associated with being insured even if the family incomes are high. First, the other family members will benefits from the insurance of one of their own. Secondly, it covers a range of health care services including delicate operations, which are very expensive. Thirdly, medical covers are like a saving and can be used for future use if one does not get serous illness while working Implications of un-insurance on workers and their families The main positive impact of providing workers with health insurance is the reduction of morbidity and increasing of life expectancy. Otherwise the converse will result if there is no insurance for workers. By increasing access to preventive services, health insurance improves the wellbeing of the persons already insured. This means that the insurance companies are able to provide the following to workers who are insured; More timely health care Better prevention Better access to health services The extensive care for people without health insurance versus the cost implications of the poor workers explains clearly the value lost in poorer health. The main implications of working or living without insurance are; first, the children and family members of these workers will find it difficult to meet their medical costs. Children specifically must be given proper medical attention at their infant stages to be able to meet their educational requirements and other future. Secondly, in case of any emergency, most nursing centers and medical institutions will find it difficult to attend to the individual as in the case where a worker is insured. This directly implies that the more such people conform to illnesses and receives poor health care services; the more they become medically disenfranchised. Social/economic values and ideals Social values such as equality and economic improvement are among the benefits to be achieved by individuals who are covered by insurance covers at their workplaces. Providing insurance cover to all workers has its own important values in the society including the ability to cover a larger population related to these workers. Also, because efficient health care relieves pain and enables workers and other people to remain health, their production levels at work is improved and eventually, the firms that offer such service swill realize better financial gains compared to those firms without5. Another additional factor is that, the workers who are insured in the company are usually motivated in one way or another. The first thing is that, they feel saver even while handling dangerous machines and operating them. Secondly, an insurance policy helps them to improve their living standards. By this, I mean that the people will have less stressful life and more importantly longer life span not only for themselves but also for the rest of their family members. Unemployment Recently, there has been a surge in unemployment in the U.S resulting in sharp increase in the number of American citizens without a medical insurance cover. Even those working also may not be having the medical cover due to their job specifications. The worst scenario also is the fact that whenever one loses their job, they automatically lose their medical insurance covers. This is more likely to result in higher populations without insurance cover for longer times. Most of the jobless workers continue to be covered by medical insurance because their spouses are covered by their employer agencies. This indicates that if the spouses don't maintain their jobs, they together lose their health care services. In this modern society, such kind of situation is not the best especially when it comes to the increase of complicated illnesses in the world today. Unemployment also means that more and more people don't get enough incomes to not only pay for their premiums but also meet their daily health care needs. Various health care organizations are currently advocating for policies to ensure that these group of people in the society are well taken care of by the government by offering them affordable and compulsory health care insurance programs with a view to reducing the population of people who are not insured. Nursing and heath insurance Nursing goes hand in hand with the insurance policies currently being offered in the market. Depending on the type of insurance policy, individuals can be able to insure themselves against many things; the most common is life insurance. Nursing centers and homes are trying to work closely with insurance firms to offer their services more effectively6. In most states of the U.S for example, more and more nursing homes are being developed to serve either the aging population or the disabled in the society. This group of persons is considered to be vulnerable to illnesses and they need frequent medical attention. Since most of them may not be having insurance covers, it is possible that they may not have enough funds to meet the requirement by themselves. Nursing as a profession also plays a crucial role in the management and carrying out f health care provision. It is considered one of the disciplines that not only need clean medical experience but also the moral ethics needed to achieve better results. As many entrepreneurs venture into the sector and things are becoming more complicated. Everywhere is business-the insurance firms and the heath centers-the result is that only the rich can obtain good health care services now and in the future unless governance policies and political willingness come in to the rescue of the poor members7. This has been a subject of debate even in the legislative council of the federal government which wants to have all the aging persons be given state healthy care services. Although some families may afford to meet expenses incurred by their older members of their families, some find it difficult to do so. It has also been very difficult to offer nursing services to workers without insurance covers. Some of these workers may be victims of poor safety regulations in their places of work while others are victims of their own profession's duties. The Americans working in Iraq are subject to poor health care services because of the delicate exposure from their work. This poses a challenge to the government to ensure that not only the soldiers are given medical insurance but also their family members as well. Some kind of illnesses is very costly for an individual who is not insurance. A victim of the 9/11 terror attacks who sustained severe injuries may not be able to meet the general upkeep throughout their lives. For a poor worker who was affected by the event and was not insured, one can imagine the trauma their families are going through at the moment trying to make ends meet as well meeting the health care needs for their families members affected by the attacks. Conclusion Uninsured workers in America not only represents lost opportunities to realize important political and social ideals that account for the country's vitality but also has hidden costs which need to be looked into properly to enable the country meet the challenges being experienced in the health care sector. The main recommendation that can be made is that, people should be able to hold their respective governments responsible for any mess they are undergoing in trying to meet proper health care services. The failure to implement proper health care policies through well established systems of medical insurance covers which are affordable to all is the main problem and should be addressed urgently. References Belien, P. (2003). Healthcare Systems - A New European Model Pharmaco-Economics. Vol. 18, supplement 1, 85-93. Garrett B. (July, 2004): Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Coverage: Sponsorship, Eligibility, and Participation Patterns in 2003, KCMU report Goldman, Dana and Elizabeth M. (2005): U.S. Health Care - Facts about Cost, Access, and Quality. RAND Corporation, Page 4. Michael R. and Joseph S., (2006): Equilibrium in Competitive Insurance Markets: An Essay on the Economics of Imperfect Information, Quarterly Journal of Economics, pp 629-649 Paulo B. (2004): How Adverse Selection Affects the Health Insurance Market Los Angeles Times, February, 2004 issue. Robert, P. (March 5, 2007): Without Health Benefits, a Good Life Turns Fragile, New York Press Sara R. C, Ph.D., Karen D, Ph.D., Michelle M. D., Ph.D., and Alice H, (2004): Wages, Health Benefits, and Workers' Health, the Commonwealth Fund Report Read More