Middle class discovers the cost of going uninsured

By A.J. Barks

Business Today

The ranks of the uninsured are swelling, but the newcomers are not who most people would expect. Despite steady jobs and a solid income, the middle class is one of the fastest growing populations going without coverage in the U.S.

"It's not the poor, they have Medicaid. And it's not the elderly, they have Medicare," says Jeff Bierman, agency manager of Swinford and Associates in Jackson.

With the drastic and continuing increases in the cost of providing health insurance, employers have had little choice but to pass the burden on to their employees. Between 2000 and 2005, employee spending for medical coverage hiked 143 percent across the nation.

Small business employees, civil servants, and single working parents are especially vulnerable in the face of these increases. When coverage is also needed for a spouse or child, the financial pressure can lead to very difficult family decisions. Sometimes health insurance is what has to go.

Nearly one quarter of those without insurance had to significantly change their way of life in order to pay medical bills, as reported in a recent study by the Economic Research Initiative on the Uninsured. What this usually means is less preventive, less follow up and less therapeutic medical care. Diseases are diagnosed later, in the more advanced stages. Accidents are walked away from, pain ignored. Prescriptions are stretched or left unfilled. Instead of a doctor's visit, trips are made to the emergency room. In fact, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study that found health insurance would reduce mortality rates for the uninsured by 10 to 15 percent, largely due to these risks or gaps in treatment.

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The Trend Ken Oberlohr, an agent for American Family Insurance, said the trend in dealing with the cost of health insurance is towards health savings accounts.

What are health saving accounts?

According to the U.S. Treasury Department, health savings accounts are "designed to help individuals save for future qualified medical and retiree health expenses on a tax-free basis." These accounts, which are not subject to income tax, are designed to work with high deductible health plans (HDHP) to cover qualified medical expenses. Should a medical emergency occur over the amount of the deductible, insurance still takes over payment.