The House Ways and Means Committee's Subcommittee on Health took a look Tuesday at the instability of healthcare coverage in America.
The hearing, called by Subcommittee Chairman Pete Stark (D-Calif.), focused on the inadequacy of coverage options, which force people to forego needed medical care, even when they have insurance.
"America's health system is broken," Stark said. "Every year more and more people join the ranks of the uninsured. Even those who have insurance are discovering the inadequacy of their coverage – all the while their premiums and cost sharing continue to rise."
Nearly 47 million people in this country are uninsured, and their ranks have been growing rapidly in recent years. Those without health insurance have worse health outcomes than those with insurance, often pay more out-of-pocket for services when they do seek care, and increase costs to the entire healthcare system, Stark said.
According to a 2005 study by The Commonwealth Fund, nearly 16 million non-elderly individuals, comprising 12 percent of the insured population, were "underinsured" in 2003. Underinsured individuals can be exposed to significant out-of-pocket costs and often have trouble accessing doctors, obtaining prescriptions and getting the treatment they need.
Diane Rowland, executive vice president of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and executive director of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, said, "As a society, we bear a substantial cost for leaving so many of our fellow Americans without health coverage. It is estimated that in 2006 some 22,000 Americans died prematurely as a
consequence of being uninsured, and the lost productivity due to the diminished health and shorter life span of the uninsured had an annualized economic cost of $102 (billion) to $204 billion."
Rising healthcare costs are exacting a financial toll on both insured and uninsured families, Rowland said. In 2007, the average premium for a family policy was $12,106, about the same amount as the annual earnings of a full-time minimum wage worker.
Stan Brock, founder and volunteer director of operations of Remote Area Medical, a free healthcare service based in Knoxville, Tenn., said the need for free care is great all across America. Volunteer services provided by healthcare practitioners is one solution, but current laws prohibit licensed providers to cross state lines to provide care.
In 1995, Tennessee changed its laws to allow healthcare providers licensed in other states to provide free services in Tennessee. A federal law to allow the same was introduced in 1997, but never got past committee review, Brock said.