Heart disease and cancer are the top two causes of death in the United States. According to the web site, not having health insurance is the third leading cause of death for American citizens. The purpose of Families USA is to promote high-quality, affordable health care. Their Web site contains a wealth of valuable information. For several years now, much of their mission involved research on the effects of no health insurance coverage.
In 2002, the Institute of Medicine released a study titled “Care Without Coverage: Too Little, Too Late.” They estimated that 18,000 adults between the ages of 25 and 64 died in 2000 because they did not have health benefits. The Urban Institute estimated this number increased to 22,000 in 2006. Families USA carried these studies a step further by breaking the numbers down by state. They analyzed all deaths between 2000 and 2006 for individuals aged 25 to 64.
Some of the results follow:
Alaska, 400
California, 19,900
Florida, 13,600
Nevada, 1,600
North Carolina, 5,600
Texas, 17,700
Virginia 3,200.
Missouri, the state I currently reside in, had 2,800 deaths. During this time the census bureau reported 3.14 million people between the ages of 25 and 64 lived in Missouri. From that group, 15.9 percent had no health insurance coverage. Deaths directly related to lack of health insurance results in almost 10 deaths each week in Missouri. For information and numbers on your state, visit the Families USA Web site at the address above.Families USA concluded the following from their study:
Uninsured individuals are four times less likely to have regular/preventive care compared to the insured.
Uninsured adults are more than 30 percent less likely than insured adults to have consulted a doctor in the past year.
Uninsured adults are more likely to receive a diagnosis in advanced stages of an illness.
Uninsured individuals are up to three times more likely to report problems in getting medical care.
Uninsured adults are more than three times as likely as insured adults to put off receiving needed medical care.
Uninsured adults are 25 percent more likely to die prematurely than covered individuals.
Americans between the ages of 55 and 64 are at a much greater risk of premature death than individuals with insurance. This makes the condition of being uninsured the third leading cause of death.
Uninsured individuals have difficulty negotiating doctor and hospital discounts like the insurance companies do. Because of this, they often pay 2.5 times more than the insured individual.
Three out of five uninsured individuals report having difficulties with their medical bills.
All of this is very alarming to me, as I hope it will be to you. With the aging population and increase in living expenses, affordable health care is more important than ever. As Americans we need to speak out and fight for changes in our current system. Now’s a good time to do this as we approach the upcoming election.
Margaret Norton is a Personal Life Coach/Writer/Speaker who resides in St. Peters, Mo.
Disparity is defined as a difference in character or quality. With the upcoming U.S. presidential election, there has been a lot of talk about national health care. As the cost of heath care continues to rise, the number of insured individuals continues to decline.
According to the Web site http://www.familiesusa.org (devoted to promoting quality, affordable health care), lack of medical insurance is the third leading cause of death in the United States. For years this site has documented what happens when there’s no health care or poor health care. Facts prove that racial and ethnic minorities in the United States experience major differences in heath care compared to whites. There are many factors which contribute to the disparity in health care. The disparities can be divided into two categories: The first category involves factors such as genetics, personal behavior, environmental factors and personal decisions about health. The second category relates more to race or origin. It includes things such as discrimination, bias, language barriers and preferences in health care.
The following statistics, worth noting, are listed on their Web site:
African Americans are two times more likely to have diabetes than whites.
American Indians/Alaska Natives have diabetes rates that are nearly three times the national rate.
Latina women who were newly diagnosed with lung or breast cancer were diagnosed in later stages and had lower survival rates than white women with similar conditions.
Nearly six in 10 Latinos and four in 10 African Americans were uninsured for all or part of 2002 and 2003.
When individuals have regular health care they are more likely to receive health screenings, timely diagnoses and earlier treatment of chronic illnesses. Uninsured individuals are less likely to get regular health care. Racial minorities make up one-third of the U.S. population, yet they comprise more than one-half of the uninsured. The facts prove that access to health care is the greatest cause of disparity in our current health care system–something for all of us to think about when the issue of national health care comes up.
Margaret Norton, a Personal Life Coach/Writer/Speaker, resides in St. Peters, Mo.
Disability insurance provides protection for your most valuable asset: your ability to earn a living. A long-term disability could cause catastrophic consequences for an individual and their family. Types of policies vary greatly by company. Before you make an informed choice you should understand some of the terms used in disability policies.
Disability Income: Replaces a portion of earned income lost due to a total or partial disability.
Interim Term: For individuals in a group disability plan, interim term is the time between the illness or accident (usually a short-term amount is paid) until you qualify for company-sponsored coverage.
Key-Person Disability: Coverage provides a financial benefit to a company in the event a key-employee is disabled.
Buy-Out Coverage: Helps fund a disability buy-out if a key-employee is disabled. This is paid in a lump-sum or installments.
Overhead Expense: Reimburses a business owner for covered overhead expenses of the business that continue while the owner is partially or totally disabled.
Group Disability Insurance: Purchased by an employer to protect the employees from loss of income due to a disability.
Small Group Short-Term Disability: Usually available to companies with three to nine employees. It provides weekly benefits to employees, in the event of a disability, for up to 26 weeks.
Small Group Long-Term Disability: Available to companies with three to nine employees. It provides weekly benefits to employees lasting longer than 13 or 26 weeks.
Long-Term Disability: The definition is the same as above except it is for companies having ten or more employees.
Non-Cancellable: A non-cancellable policy can not be changed by the company. The premium and coverage is guaranteed once the policy is issued.
Guaranteed Renewable: A guaranteed renewable policy can not be canceled nor have its terms (except for premiums) changed by the Company.
Beginning Date: Days are not always measured consecutively with disability coverage. Sometimes it depends upon the type of illness or accident.
Benefit Period: The amount of time benefits are paid out to a disabled person. Varies by company but is usually one to five years.
Most individuals are aware of credit bureaus and the FBI but few people realize there’s an agency that collects medical information on individuals. The Medical Information Bureau, MIB, was created in 1902 for the purpose of protecting insurance companies. The name has been changed to MIB Group, Inc. It’s a membership corporation or trade association owned by approximately 470 members.
The Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act and Accurate Credit Transition Act give consumers the right to know the contents of their MIB file. The legal term for this is disclosure. Just like credit reports, a consumer is entitled to one free copy of their MIB report annually. Each time an individual applies for insurance, if the insurance company is a member of the MIB, information about the individual is submitted to the MIB.
If you have never applied for any type of individual insurance there’s no record for you. Just like a credit report, you have the right to dispute information you believe is inaccurate. But unlike credit reports there are fewer incidents of false information. Per the MIB, when they investigate a disputed file only about one percent proves to be false. Health information is more sensitive than credit information therefore more protected.Before the MIB was established insurance companies discovered that individuals were not always truthful when applying for insurance.
Insurance applications always ask individuals to state they provided all their health information and all their answers are true. Individuals sometimes withheld information fearing their insurance would be denied or they’d have a higher premium. This resulted in insurance companies paying claims under fraudulent conditions and incurring unnecessary losses. Thus the MIB was established.The toll free number to call for your free medical report is 866-692-6901.
If it has been longer than seven years since you applied for insurance there will not be a report. Be prepared to give your personal information. This information is validated before they will release any information to you. You are asked to certify under penalty of perjury that all the information you provided is true and that you are who you say you are.
When your request for disclosure is approved, the following information is provided: The nature of all information about you, the name of all MIB companies that reported information about you and the name of any member that received a copy of your report in the past twelve months.Though their error rate is very low it is sometimes useful to request a copy of your MIB report. Sometimes individuals who move frequently and have many medical issues do not always remember doctor names, dates and exact illnesses. The MIB is one source, one call where all your medical information is stored.
Before applying for insurance it’s helpful to request a copy of your MIB report. That way you are sure to disclose everything that they already know about.
It is my opinion that the biggest problem with disability insurance is how insurance companies define “your job.” Disability coverage is designed to provide income to the insured in the event they become disabled and are no longer able to perform their job duties. The definitions range from unable to do any job to unable to do the specific job for which you are trained or currently engaged in.
Obviously it’s to your advantage to purchase a policy which provides protection to you when you are unable to perform any type of work at all. The company can’t suggest that you try a different line of work or deny benefits because they think you could work in any type of job doing whatever.
A policy which provides coverage only if you are unable to perform your current job is usually recommended. You might not be able to do your old job but there may be other types of work you could do. The company can not deny benefits because you are unwilling to perform a different type of work.
There are variations on these two extremes. Professionals, such as surgeons, obviously probably don’t want to perform other types of work if they become disabled. This probably is not as important for the less educated or less skilled worker. The most important thing is to ask lots of questions before you purchase a policy. Make sure you understand the company’s definition of work and how your coverage works. Disability is difficult enough to deal with. It’s even worse if you believe you have coverage, only to find out that you don’t.
Margaret Norton, a Personal Life Coach/Writer/Speaker, lives in St. Peters, Mo.
Before deciding if you need long term care insurance coverage, you must first define long term care. Its a term that’s misunderstood by many individuals. Some people mistakenly believe that long term care needs are covered by their major medical. Usually they are not covered by group or individual health plans. Others believe that Medicare or Medicaid covers this type of expense. Medicare offers some coverage but there are rules and limitations. Medicaid is administered by the state and typically an individual must be impoverished (no longer own their home and have a very small amount of liquid assets) to qualify. VA covers some costs of long term care but indefinite care is only covered when 70% of the disability was service connected.
As baby boomers continue to age, the need for long term care continues to increase. Some experts believe that by 2018 one out of every two adults will be caring for an elderly person. Today, according to long term care expert, Thomas Day, almost 84 percent of long term care is provided by family, friends or volunteers. The cost of this would be about 313 billion dollars per year. There are many individuals pushing for our government to assume these costs but others believe that as the population ages this will be impossible. This would put long term care in the category with Social Security and Defense as far as spending. With our current deficit where are the funds supposed to come from?
Long term care can mean help with daily living chores such as dressing to skilled nursing activities, such as physical therapy. Nursing homes tend to define themselves by level of care and are licensed by the state. Therefore, there are variations from state to state and home to home. The last few years we’ve seen an increase in senior type living facilities. Some communities offer adult day care. Some individuals, as a way to increase their income and out of their concern for the elderly, have opened their own homes to the elderly basically boarding houses with a medical twist. Its understandable that the average person is confused by long term care options. Unfortunately many individuals are forced to learn the system when faced with a family medical crisis. My mother has been receiving long term care since 2005 and currently lives in an assisted living facility. Ive learned a little about health care for the elderly during this time and in my upcoming blogs Id like to try to demystify this subject for my readers.
Margaret Norton, a Personal Life Coach/Writer/Speaker, resides in St. Peters, Missouri.
An individual needing assistance with physical or emotional needs over an extended period of time is defined as needing long term care. Typically this is due to a terminal illness, disability, sickness, injury or old age. Help is needed in the areas that a normal, healthy individual takes for granted.
The areas they need help with can include personal things such as bathing, dressing, or eating. If the individual remains at home help might be needed with household chores, yard work or laundry. Often individuals needing long term care are no longer able to drive and need transportation for doctor visits, to purchase groceries, or run errands. Sometimes it is difficult for these individuals to read or write and they require assistance with bill paying, letter writing or managing their personal affairs. Depending upon the illness, they might also require medical treatment, nursing visits or therapy.
The experts estimate that 60 percent of U.S. citizens will need long term care at some point in their life. According to the latest census bureau figures, 22 percent of individuals over the age of 65 are receiving long term care treatment. Thirteen percent are receiving care through the community with an average stay of two and one half to three years. Twenty percent are confined to nursing homes with an average stay of a little over two years. If there’s a choice, most individuals prefer to remain at home. Sixty seven percent are receiving home care services averaging between three and five years.
With these odds, its important for everyone to know more about long term care options. Even if you never need this type of care yourself, its very likely that someone you know personally will. Its estimated that fifty percent of baby boomers will be caring for an elderly parent in the next ten years. In my next blog, Ill explain custodial care and skilled care.
Margaret Norton, a Personal Life Coach/Writer/Speaker, resides in St. Peters, Missouri.
Heart disease and cancer are the top two causes of death in the United States. According to the web site, not having health insurance is the third leading cause of death for American citizens. The purpose of Families USA is to promote high-quality, affordable health care. Their Web site contains a wealth of valuable information. For several years now, much of their mission involved research on the effects of no health insurance coverage.
Disparity is defined as a difference in character or quality. With the upcoming U.S. presidential election, there has been a lot of talk about national health care. As the cost of heath care continues to rise, the number of insured individuals continues to decline.
Most individuals are aware of credit bureaus and the FBI but few people realize there’s an agency that collects medical information on individuals. The 
It is my opinion that the biggest problem with disability insurance is how insurance companies define “your job.” 
Before deciding if you need long term care insurance coverage, you must first define long term care. Its a term that’s misunderstood by many individuals. Some people mistakenly believe that long term care needs are covered by their major medical. Usually they are not covered by group or individual health plans. Others believe that Medicare or Medicaid covers this type of expense. Medicare offers some coverage but there are rules and limitations. Medicaid is administered by the state and typically an individual must be impoverished (no longer own their home and have a very small amount of liquid assets) to qualify. VA covers some costs of long term care but indefinite care is only covered when 70% of the disability was service connected.
An individual needing assistance with physical or emotional needs over an extended period of time is defined as needing 
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