U.S. health insurance system in “crisis” – Institute of Medicine report says

The U.S. health insurance system is in a “state of crisis” and the “situation will get worse” unless health-care costs are controlled, according to a new report by the U.S. Institute of Medicine.

A weakening economy, rising health care and insurance costs, growing unemployment and declining employment-based coverage are all driving up the number of Americans without health insurance, the report warns, and without “concerted action” the situation the number of uninsured is sure to climb.

The Institute of Medicine is part of the National Academies of Science, an independent, non-profit established by Congress to provide advice on technical and scientific issues. The new report was commissioned by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a foundation that focuses on health-care policy and practice. 

The new Institute of Medicine  report, America’s Uninsured Crisis, finds that number of Americans without health insurance will continue to grow primarily because of soaring health-care costs.

In recent years, health care insurance rates are growing far faster that the U.S. economy and family income, the report finds, and fewer employers are offering health insurance.

Those that do are requiring their workers to pay more of the premiums and higher copayments, the report says, with the average annual employee contribution for family coverage rising from $1,543 to $3,354 over the past decade.

“High premium costs are especially burdensome to lower wage workers, who are finding it more and more difficult to take up offers of coverage from their employers,” the report says.

At the same time, financial pressures due to the high cost of health care threaten state and federal programs that have provided a health-insurance safety net for such groups as low-income children and the disabled, the report says.

Lack of insurance hurts both individuals and communities, the report found.

“The clinical literature overwhelmingly shows that uninsured people, children as well as adults, suffer worse health and die sooner that those with insurance,” the report finds. 

Poor health, disability and premature deaths due to lack of health insurance, in turn, reduce national productivity and further weaken the economy, the report says.

The health care of those insurance are also affected, the report argues, because when large numbers of people lose their health coverage it can undermine the financial stability of local health providers and health institutions, such as hospitals, leading to cuts in services that reduce access to care even for those with insurance, the report says. 

The IOM report concludes there is a “compelling case for urgent action” to expand health coverage to all Americans and recommends that “ President work with Congress and other public and private sector leaders on an urgent basis to achieve health insurance coverage for everyone and, in order to make that coverage sustainable, to reduce the costs of health care and the rate of increase in per capita health care spending.”

To learn more:

• Visit the National Academies of Science Web site, which has links to a good summary of the report, the full report, and a recording of the briefing by some of the experts who prepared the report.
• Visit the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Web site.

Some local resources that can help with insurance problems are: 

• Children’s Health Program (for non-citizens, visitors, undocumented): http://fortress.wa.gov/dshs/maa/chip
• TRICARE (military insurance, families, retired, etc.): www.tricare.osd.mil
• Washington’s Apple Health for Kids (insurance assistance): http://fortress.wa.gov/dshs/maa/applehealth/
• Washington Basic Health (insurance assistance): www.basichealth.hca.wa.gov/understanding.shtml
• Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner: www.insurance.wa.gov

Tags: Health Insurance, Health Policy, Health Reform, Institute of Medicine, Insurance, National Academies of Science

Category: Health Insurance, Health-care Policy, Insurance