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84M Uninsured or Under-insured in 2012

Author: Commonwealth Fund
Published: 2013/04/26 - Updated: 2021/05/02
Topic: Disability Insurance (Publications Database)

Page Content: Synopsis Introduction Main Item

Synopsis: Cost of health care and health coverage in the United States have been on an unsustainable trajectory straining family and government budgets.

According to the report, in 2012, 41 percent of working-age adults, or 75 million people, had problems paying their medical bills or were paying off medical bills over time, up from 58 million in 2005.

The early provisions of the Affordable Care Act are helping young adults gain coverage and improving the affordability of health care during difficult economic times for American families...

Introduction

New health insurance survey: 84 million people were uninsured for a time or under-insured in 2012. Nearly decade-long trend of rising uninsured rates among young adults reversed; biennial health insurance survey finds 75 million people struggled with medical debt and 80 million were unable to afford the health care they need.

Main Item

Health Insurance provides coverage for medicine, visits to the doctor or emergency room, hospital stays and other medical expenses. Health insurance can be directly purchased by an individual, or it may be provided through an employer. Medicare and Medicaid are programs which provide health insurance to elderly, disabled, or un-insured individuals. Health insurance may apply to a limited or comprehensive range of medical services and may provide for full or partial payment of the costs of specific services. Benefits may consist of the right to certain medical services or reimbursement of the insured for specified medical costs. Private health insurance is organized and administered by an insurance company or other private agency; public health insurance is run by the government.

Eighty-four million people - nearly half of all working-age U.S. adults - went without health insurance for a time last year or had out-of-pocket costs that were so high relative to their income they were considered under-insured, according to the Commonwealth Fund 2012 Biennial Health Insurance Survey.

The survey also found that the proportion of young adults ages 19 - 25 who were uninsured during the year fell from 48 percent to 41 percent between 2010 and 2012, reversing a nearly decade-long trend of rising uninsured rates in that age group. This reversal is likely due to a provision in the 2010 Affordable Care Act allowing young adults to stay on their parents' health insurance until age 26, the authors say.

The report, Insuring the Future: Current Trends in Health Coverage and the Effects of Implementing the Affordable Care Act, finds that the percentage of Americans who were uninsured, under-insured, or had gaps in their health coverage grew steadily between 2003 and 2010, with the number of under-insured nearly doubling from 16 million in 2003 to 29 million in 2010. However, between 2010 and 2012, the numbers of under-insured adults leveled off, growing to 30 million. The authors say that this is partly a result of slower health care cost growth and lower overall health spending by consumers, combined with declining household incomes. But provisions in the health reform law - such as requiring insurers to cover recommended preventive care without any cost to patients - also are beginning to make health care more affordable for many consumers.

"The early provisions of the Affordable Care Act are helping young adults gain coverage and improving the affordability of health care during difficult economic times for American families," said Sara Collins, Ph.D., a Commonwealth Fund vice president and the study's lead author. "It will be critical to continue to monitor the effects of the law as the major provisions go into effect in 2014 and beyond to ensure it achieves its goal of near-universal, comprehensive health insurance."

Millions Are Struggling to Afford Health Care and Falling into Medical Debt

According to the survey, people are increasingly skipping needed health care because they can't afford it. In 2012, 80 million people reported that, during the past year, they did not go to the doctor when they were sick or did not fill a prescription due to cost. Reports of skipping needed care rose substantially from 2003, when 63 million people did not get care because of cost.

Medical debt also continues to burden U.S. households.

According to the report, in 2012, 41 percent of working-age adults, or 75 million people, had problems paying their medical bills or were paying off medical bills over time, up from 58 million in 2005. Nearly one of five (18%) adults were contacted by a collections agency over unpaid bills, and 16 percent had to change their way of life because of medical bills.

The report finds that medical debt has substantial consequences: 42 percent of survey respondents who reported having trouble with medical bills, or an estimated 32 million people, had a lower credit rating because of unpaid bills and 6 percent, or an estimated 4 million, had to declare bankruptcy because of their bills.

Impact of the Affordable Care Act

The health reform law has already helped millions of young adults gain insurance coverage and protected people from insurance company practices like canceling policies retroactively when a subscriber becomes sick, or putting a limit on how much they will pay out in a given year or lifetime. But the bulk of the law's effects will not be felt until 2014, when the health insurance reforms are fully implemented and the new state insurance marketplaces are up and running. Using the survey findings to determine how the Affordable Care Act will impact Americans currently uninsured or under-insured, the report finds that:

The authors say it is critical that the federal government and the states continue to implement the Affordable Care Act, cautioning that if states don't expand Medicaid as the law originally intended, millions of low-income families will be at risk for being uninsured even after the law takes full effect in 2014.

"The costs of health care and health coverage in the United States have been on an unsustainable trajectory, straining family and government budgets," said Commonwealth Fund president David Blumenthal, M.D. "It is important that lawmakers and regulators across the country take the steps necessary to ensure that all Americans can benefit fully from the law's improvements to the quality, efficiency, and affordability of our health care system."

Additional Report Findings

Report available at www.commonwealthfund.org/Publications.aspx An interactive graphic available at www.commonwealthfund.org/Resources

Study Methodology

The Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International from April 26 to August 19, 2012. The survey consisted of 25-minute telephone interviews in either English or Spanish and was conducted among a random, nationally representative sample of 4,432 adults ages 19 and older living in the continental United States. The sample was drawn from a combination of landline and cell phone random-digit dial (RDD) samples.

This report limits the analysis to respondents ages 19 to 64 (n=3,393). Statistical results are weighted to correct for the stratified sample design, the overlapping landline and cellular phone sample frames, and disproportionate non-response that might bias results. The resulting weighted sample is representative of the approximately 183.9 million U.S. adults ages 19 to 64.

The survey has an overall margin of sampling error of +/- 2.3 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. The landline portion of the survey achieved a 22 percent response rate and the cellular phone component achieved a 19 percent response rate.

The report also presents estimates from the 2003, 2005, and 2010 Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Surveys. These surveys were conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International using the same stratified sampling strategy as was used in 2012, except the 2003 and 2005 surveys did not include a cell phone random-digit dial sample. In 2003, the survey was conducted from September 3, 2003, through January 4, 2004, and included 3,293 adults ages 19 to 64; in 2005, the survey was conducted from August 2005 to January 2006 among 3,353 adults ages 19 to 64; in 2010, the survey was conducted from July 14 to November 30 2010 among 3,033 adults ages 19 to 64.

The Commonwealth Fund is a private foundation supporting independent research on health policy reform and a high performance health system.

Attribution/Source(s):

This quality-reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World due to its significant relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by Commonwealth Fund, and published on 2013/04/26 (Edit Update: 2021/05/02), the content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity. For further details or clarifications, Commonwealth Fund can be contacted at commonwealthfund.org. NOTE: Disabled World does not provide any warranties or endorsements related to this article.

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Cite This Page (APA): Commonwealth Fund. (2013, April 26 - Last revised: 2021, May 2). 84M Uninsured or Under-insured in 2012. Disabled World. Retrieved December 12, 2024 from www.disabled-world.com/disability/insurance/underinsured.php

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