2008 Woodie Awards
Medical bills, health insurance too much for average American
Brittany Sarrett
Issue date: 3/1/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
When the cold weather comes around, it leaves many people sick. I recently had to take a trip to the doctor's office because of an illness and received medication. Thankfully, I am on my parents' medical insurance.
I took a look at my bill, and if I were not on their plan, just talking to the doctor would have cost me $300 alone.
Three hundred dollars to sit in a waiting room and then have a doctor tell you what you already know: you're sick.
That cost does not include the cost of the prescription you know the doctor probably will write you.
My doctor wrote me three prescriptions when I went to see him, and believe me, all of them were expensive. Thank God for my parents' insurance, because it would have been well over $1,000 to receive the medicine I needed.
So I started thinking: What if I wasn't on my parents medical insurance and had to pay the medical bill out of my own pocket?
In 2005, an estimated 46.6 million people were without insurance in the United States.
Health insurance costs are expected to rise 10 percent by next year. People without medical insurance have to pay their medical bills and for their doctor visits out of their own wallets.
Amarillo recently invested more than $40 million to help expand and better its medical facilities. Much of the money that people in Amarillo pay to their medical bills goes toward paying the doctors and nurses who treat them.
I have no problem with fair pay to the medical staff, but why does the majority of what you pay have to go into their pockets?
Nearly all the growth in the number of uninsured people (which has swelled from 40 million in 2000 to almost 47 million in 2005) is among those aged 18 to 64. Most people who are uninsured in America are working.
Much of the cause in numbers is due to employers cutting back on coverage and benefits in response to rising costs and adverse economic circumstances.
Another rising problem is that our population is living much longer than it used to.
The average lifespan of an adult male is 75 years old. The older generation is much more likely to have health problems and usually cannot work to provide themselves with suitable health care.
To fix this huge problem, some people suggest having a regulated government plan where everyone in America would be covered by the same plan.
The United States is the only country in the developed world that does not have a tax-supported health care system.
Canada is one of those countries that does have a health care plan supported by taxes.
Canada statistically has lower costs and lower mortality rates overall compared to the United States.
I do know that what the United States has for a health care plan right now is just not working for everyone.
We have great doctors and great developments in medicine, but does that matter if we can't help the entire nation when they are in need?
I took a look at my bill, and if I were not on their plan, just talking to the doctor would have cost me $300 alone.
Three hundred dollars to sit in a waiting room and then have a doctor tell you what you already know: you're sick.
That cost does not include the cost of the prescription you know the doctor probably will write you.
My doctor wrote me three prescriptions when I went to see him, and believe me, all of them were expensive. Thank God for my parents' insurance, because it would have been well over $1,000 to receive the medicine I needed.
So I started thinking: What if I wasn't on my parents medical insurance and had to pay the medical bill out of my own pocket?
In 2005, an estimated 46.6 million people were without insurance in the United States.
Health insurance costs are expected to rise 10 percent by next year. People without medical insurance have to pay their medical bills and for their doctor visits out of their own wallets.
Amarillo recently invested more than $40 million to help expand and better its medical facilities. Much of the money that people in Amarillo pay to their medical bills goes toward paying the doctors and nurses who treat them.
I have no problem with fair pay to the medical staff, but why does the majority of what you pay have to go into their pockets?
Nearly all the growth in the number of uninsured people (which has swelled from 40 million in 2000 to almost 47 million in 2005) is among those aged 18 to 64. Most people who are uninsured in America are working.
Much of the cause in numbers is due to employers cutting back on coverage and benefits in response to rising costs and adverse economic circumstances.
Another rising problem is that our population is living much longer than it used to.
The average lifespan of an adult male is 75 years old. The older generation is much more likely to have health problems and usually cannot work to provide themselves with suitable health care.
To fix this huge problem, some people suggest having a regulated government plan where everyone in America would be covered by the same plan.
The United States is the only country in the developed world that does not have a tax-supported health care system.
Canada is one of those countries that does have a health care plan supported by taxes.
Canada statistically has lower costs and lower mortality rates overall compared to the United States.
I do know that what the United States has for a health care plan right now is just not working for everyone.
We have great doctors and great developments in medicine, but does that matter if we can't help the entire nation when they are in need?
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