Why can't Americans afford medical insurance?

In successive presidential elections in the United States, the medical and health insurance system has always been a major axis for all parties to expound their political views. For a long time, the federal government, state governments and other institutions and private enterprises in the United States have invested a lot of money in this area every year.

However, as early as the Human Development Report published by the United Nations in 2005, it was revealed that among rich countries, the United States is the only country without universal medical care and health insurance. For families living below the poverty line, 1/3 has no insurance. 13% of whites have no insurance, and the number of blacks is as high as 2 1%. Under the current medical system in the United States, if there is no medical and health insurance, an ordinary worker's monthly income is only enough to pay for one day's hospitalization expenses. Once he is seriously ill, the medical expenses will ruin him.

46.6 million Americans can't afford insurance

According to the latest figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics, there are still 46.6 million Americans without any medical and health insurance, accounting for 15.9% of the American population. These people are mainly between 65,438+09 and 64 years old and are in working age. 80% people only have a low-paying job and can't afford commercial insurance. In addition, among the population below 18, about 9.3% have no medical and health insurance, and among the 30 million American working families, 16% have no medical and health insurance at all. According to the statistics of American medical institutions, about 6.5438+0.8 million people die in the United States every year because of the lack of medical and health insurance. In the United States, 1 in every 7 families is heavily in debt due to medical expenses.

The real data is shocking, peeling off the aura of the United States. It is not difficult to see that although the United States has launched various Medicaid programs to support the disadvantaged groups, as many as 15% people are still excluded from the medical insurance system. The whole medical system is inefficient, wasteful, unfair and unreasonable. These problems have plagued American society for many years. Despite the strong economic growth in the United States from 2005 to 2006, the total number of people without medical care and health insurance has been growing at a rate of 5%, and the number of children without insurance has been growing at a rate of 9%.

The National Health Care Action Network is a non-governmental organization that aims to establish a free health care system for all Americans. Linda, the head of the organization, said that the medical insurance system in the United States is very complicated, and immigrants who come to the United States are often at a loss about this medical and health insurance system composed of the federal government, state governments, non-profit health insurance companies and commercial insurance companies. Linda believes that "Americans living in the shadows can't get the medical care they need." Although the American medical system may be the best in the world for those rich people, it is not the best for every American. "

Private hospitals do not accept uninsured patients.

The American government has also made some efforts to improve the medical security benefits of low-income people. The American government stipulates that if a patient's life is in danger, the emergency room of any hospital should not shut him out because he has no medical insurance, no money and no legal status, so the emergency room has become the last straw for people without medical insurance to seek medical treatment and medicine in an emergency. In addition, during hospitalization, the hospital is not allowed to ask patients about their immigration status. After the condition is stable, the hospital will give the patient maintenance drugs for one month before being allowed to leave the hospital. However, a doctor practicing in the United States said: It is better for such patients to go to government hospitals, because if they go to private hospitals, private hospitals usually transfer patients to other government hospitals quickly because they are unwilling to treat people for free, but this will be more difficult.

People who don't have insurance or can't afford medical expenses often end up paying the huge bills left by the US government in hospitals. As a result, the average annual medical cost in the United States is as high as $5,267, which is about 2.5 times higher than that in other developed countries. A magazine in new york pointed out that in the past century, the United States tried to establish a universal medical system six times, but all six efforts ended in failure, which fully demonstrated the dissatisfaction of the American people with the existing medical system.

The medical insurance industry is very developed.

Compared with 46.6 million Americans without medical and health insurance, the insurance industry in the United States is very developed. In the list of the top 500 companies in the world published by Fortune magazine in 2007, there are 48 insurance companies on the list, and the United States has 12, ranking first in the world. In the United States, there are about 9 million employees in this industry, and the annual output value accounts for 14% of GDP, which is about 1 trillion US dollars.

In New York State, in order to help low-wage workers who can't afford commercial insurance get medical and health insurance, the state government has introduced a subsidy insurance system to provide government subsidy insurance for low-income families and individuals to prevent them from slipping into a more impoverished situation. Thanks to these government-subsidized insurances, tens of thousands of low-income families in new york are not in trouble.

The distrust from ordinary people and the refusal to increase taxes have also made the promotion of the universal health insurance policy stagnant. It seems that the United States still has a long way to go to achieve the goal that everyone can enjoy the same high-quality medical services.