Health insurance has long been a controversial topic. In the developed countries of the world, health care is primarily the government’s concern. The people in general get better health care services than in the developing countries. In the United States, people are generally covered by the public health care system. Still, they have better chances of getting better health care if they have additional health insurance to cover them.
Based on results of a new research, those who are not insured will end up spending more OR getting less health care. The Washington Post reports:
In a report appearing in Monday’s online edition ofHealth Affairs, Jack Hadley, of George Mason University, and John Holahan, Teresa Coughlin and Dawn Miller, of the Urban Institute, analyzed data on medical spending in people who are insured versus those who are uninsured.
They found that people uninsured for any part of 2008 receive about half as much care as those who are fully insured. A person who is uninsured all year will average $1,686 in medical costs, while someone who is privately insured will average $3,915.
“The uninsured receive a lot less care than the insured, and they pay a greater percentage of it out of pocket. Contrary to popular myth, they are not all free riders,” study author Hadley, a senior health services researcher at George Mason, said in a news release from the journal.
The moral to story is simple: it is better to get medical insurance. Reality check: is your health insurance enough to cover your needs?
译文:
不投保，卫生保健少
一直以来，健康保险都是个极具争议性的话题。在发达国家，健康保险大多由国家支付。总体上说，发达国家的民众比发展中国家的国民享有更健全的卫生保健机制。美国大多数民众受益于公共卫生保险制度。而且，投了附加健康保险的民众将享有更好的卫生保健。
乔治梅森大学的Jack Hadley与城市学院的John Holahan、Teresa Coughlin 、Dawn Miller共同在星期一的《健康事件》网络版中发表了一份报告，报告中对投保健康险与未投健康险的人在医药方面的支出数据进行了分析。
分析发现，2008年未投保的民众接受的健康保健大约为全面投保人士的一半。例如，未投健康保险的人每年人均享受1686美元的医疗补助，而个人投保的人每年的人均医疗补助将达到3915美元。
乔治梅森大学资深健康服务研究员，学者作家Hadley在《健康事件》的新闻中指出，“未投保的人比投保的如人接受补助少得多，且他们自己掏的钱更多。跟传言不同，他们并不是一分钱都不花就能看病。”。
结论很简单：最好是投医疗保险。检查一下，你的健康保险确实能保障你的需要吗？