Morning Read: 1 in 8 North Country residents uninsured
The Watertown Daily Times is reporting this morning that 12% of North Country residents lack health coverage – a rate that’s actually slightly better than New York and the US as a whole.
The rate, virtually unchanged from a year earlier, reflects New York’s efforts to trim the number of people without insurance by expanding eligibility for Medicaid and other subsidized health programs, according to the Healthcare Association of New York State.
It also may reflect the north country’s relatively high number of people in government jobs, including people employed at Fort Drum, prisons and public universities.
According to one source for the story, Medicaid enrollments have grown rapidly, a process that brings more residents coverage, but also burdens local property tax payers more heavily. Read the full article here.
I thought government health insurance was free. All the coverage you want, and no charge.
Hmmm. What’s the big deal?
Does “people employed at Fort Drum” include military personnel, and does “prisons” include the prisoners? That would sure skew the numbers.
But it is good to see that socialism is working out for us up here. It would be better, though, if 8 out of 8 had health insurance.
News headlines are always take the glass is half empty view. Why doesn’t this read: “88% of north county residents have health insurance”? An optimistic outlook is what the county needs.
Hmm, I guess somebody doesn’t think it would be better if everyone had health insurance.
Just for arguments sake, I wish health insurance were illegal.
Why? Because health insurance hides the true cost of health care. When you have health insurance and buy drugs, you only know what your copay is. You are not shown what the drug actually costs. Same is true for everything that is covered. Because of this, the market is whatever the insurance providers and health providers say it is.
Because doctors and hospitals don’t like to be sued, they order up more tests, operations and drugs, many of which are only ordered to protect their butts. Also, they only make money by ordering all of this stuff, needed or not.
So in effect, health care is not part of the beloved “Free Market” system.
I would bet for many if not most of the young and especially those who are single would prefer to get paid what the cost of their health insurance is costing them and their employer if given the opportunity.
I wonder what % of self employed have health Ins? I’ll wager it’s a lot less than 88%. As someone in that catagory I can attest to the unbeleivable increases in premiums in the past few years. Most public sector employees have no idea how much prices have gone up lately. I had a family plan 3 yrs ago with a $2500 ded on each family member, the price was $12000.0./yr. Swithced companies and went with a $5500. ded on each person, price dropped to $5300./yr, last yr the price went up to $5900./yr(up about 10%) this yr price jumped to $6900./yr(up about 19%). So in 2 yrs its up about 30%, is it any wonder why so many self employed are uninsured? It’s really galling when I hear public sector employees crying about having to contribute more towards their Health Ins especially when it is some paltry increase of $20 or $30 per month.
Rick,
Your anger with public employees would be better directed at the health insurance companies as to why the rates are going up so much and why their CEOs and executives get paid obscene salaries.
To Pete’s comment – yes, with health insurance people are too removed from knowing or caring about what the doctor or hospital or drug company are being paid. They only care what their out of pocket cost is. There is no free market place with health insurance or health care and no one is arguing to hold costs down so they keep rising much faster than inflation. That’s why the government needs to step in and regulate/negotiate fees. Better yet we need a single payer system and eliminate the bloated private health insurance companies who are skiming 20% for themselves while not doing anything to hold costs down.
Knuck, I assume you are talking about my comment above. How in the world did you get that out of what I wrote??? The news is just supposed to give you the facts. The fact is that 88% of these folks have insurance. It doesn’t mean that the other 12% don’t need it as well.
The other story here does the same thing. Why is it framed that 1 in 3 people are on social security in Hamilton County. That is not a positive or negative story but again why doesn’t it say that 2/3rds of the county is not on SS? Just interesting to see how the story is always framed toward the minority side when they write the headline.
Numbers! How we love numbers! 1 in 3, 1 in 8, 1% vs. 99%, 9-9-9 and so on forever. What is the point? And let us not forget 7 billion and counting.
Am I wrong to say, “Who cares? So what?”
Stealing only one line from Bob Dylan’s prophetic poem, “It’s alright ma, I’m only bleeding,” I’ll close here with, “Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.”
What is the percentage on Medicaid?
Yes, a lot of numbers, Pete. Your post made me think back to Moses Malone’s 4-4-4 plan.
Vermont will save $$ with single payer health care system:
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2011/11/02/359157/vermont-save-billion-by-2020-single-payer/
If Vermont pulls it off it will be the best evidence yet that it works.
Paul, you are exactly correct! “If it bleeds it leads”! As someone who spent years in the media field the more you know the less you trust it!
Taking the insurance people out of healthcare would save money. The system should be about doctors and patients, and not about insurance company investments.
Health insurance started in this country in the twenties and thirties as a way for hospitals to deal with insufficient revenues– they offered low-cost prepaid plans that gave subscribers free care to increase use of their then-underused facilities. The scheme worked well enough that associations of physicians formed to achieve the same result for doctors. They were single-payer systems, like the Mayo clinic today. The hospital insurance program became Blue Cross, the physicians program Blue Shield; they were non-profit organizations who’s purpose was to increase health care utilization.
The original Blue Cross policy was offered to teachers by Baylor University’s hospital in 1929; it guaranteed them 21 days of hospital care for $6 a year, the equivalent of $77 a year in today’s dollars.