Most of the insured can not pay the hospital bills, according to the New HHS Report
“One of the most enduring myths in American health care is that people without health insurance can get care with little or no problem. Nothing could be further from the truth,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “The result is that families without health -. Or face of health care bills can expect to pay when the uninsured can not afford the care they receive, the cost should be absorbed by other taxpayers is the reason to expand access to ‘affordable health insurance. under the Affordable Care is so important. “The high cost of hospitalization means that lack of health insurance represents a greater risk of financial catastrophe that lack of insurance or auto insurance. Even if people are 50 percent more likely to have a car accident than being hospitalized in a given year, the average bill for a hospital visit more than two and a half times higher than the average loss of an accident ‘ car. And while the bill for a single shelter is about the same as the average loss of a burning house, a person is ten times more likely to be hospitalized, as the experience of a fire.
About 50 million Americans uninsured. The report found that most uninsured have virtually no savings. In fact, the median financial assets for all uninsured families are only $ 20. Even among high-income families, the activities are low. Half of families with incomes at 400 percent of federal poverty level (FPL) or $ 89 400 a year for a family of four in 2011, financial assets are below $ 4100.
“Health insurance is essential to help protect families for hospital charges unexpected,” said Sherry Glied, HHS assistant secretary for planning and evaluation. “This report shows that families with higher incomes, the fight uninsured to face the high costs of health care. No family should bear the burden of being a disease or an accident of failure.”
Each year, nearly 2 million uninsured Americans are hospitalized. With 58 percent of these bills more than $ 10,000 in shelters, most of the uninsured are able to pay the hospital bills potential. The top 10 percent of uninsured families with the most assets are estimated to be able to pay the bill in full, only half of hospital stays potential. The uninsured families are on average afford to pay the bills complete only about 12 percent of the hospital they might encounter, which bills represent only 5 percent of the total costs of hospitalization.
A new report published today by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shows that many families without health insurance are financial assets to pay the hospital bills potential. On average, uninsured families can not afford to pay in full for about 12 percent of hospital stays, they may experience – and families with higher incomes, the uninsured are also able to pay the hospital for most potential remains. Hospital admissions for the uninsured who can not pay full regard to the 95 percent of hospitals in total insured amount of weight.
Other studies have found that the invoices for all types of health care that the uninsured can not pay – the cost of uncompensated care – it is up to 73 billion dollars a year, an important part of this is moved to higher costs for Americans with insurance from their employers.
