One of the biggest myths about health care is that most of those without insurance are illegal immigrants, or are unemployed. This simply isn’t true.

The National Health Care Coalition has found that nearly eighty per cent of the uninsured in America are citizens, and eighty per cent of those come from working class families. During 2006, over 90 percent of the population or nearly five million people, were without any kind of health insurance for at least part of the year. Now that the unemployment figures are higher, that number is also larger.

America is a world leader. Why is nothing being done to guarantee health care to our working families? If you are working just to get by, then you usually make too much to qualify for Medicaid. Staying at home and drawing welfare so that you can have health insurance doesn’t make any sense to most people, and budget problems at the state level is making that harder as well.

Young adults to the age of twenty-four probably don’t give health care a second thought. They are the population group that is most likely to be without a health plan. There are families that earn over $50,000 per year and also don’t have insurance, even when it is offered by their employer, because they just cannot afford the premiums. If a family earning that kind of money cannot afford health insurance, how can a family who earning half of that be expect to pay for a health plan?

The trouble is that being uninsured means that serious illnesses may go undiagnosed or untreated. Even something like the flu can cause complications and even death if left untreated.

Someone without health insurance is more likely to end up hospitalized for an avoidable condition. The cost of that stay will be around $3000. If that person had been seen a doctor, the condition could have been caught and treated before it became a problem. Hospitals treat patients without insurance and it costs nearly $34million dollars every year. That cost is added back to the paying public through higher hospital bills. This increases insurance rates forces more people to go without.

Affordable health insurance in America needs to be talked about not only during election years. We all need to focus on it and fix it now, realistically and fairly. Health insurance should not be a luxury, or an option for a select few. It should be affordable for all.

Health insurance is designed to protect against loss of income and expenses for medical care. There are two broad categories of health insurance
policies: disability income policies and medical expense policies. Disability income policies can also be referred to as loss of income, loss of time or replacement income. This type of policy will pay benefits to an insured who is disabled and can no longer work to earn a regular income. Payments can be weekly or monthly depending on the policy.

Medical expense policies are represented by a wide range of coverage from very minimal to comprehensive packages with multiple coverage. Some include both accidents and illnesses, various hospital expenses and other costs pertaining to medical care such as accident and sickness policies, hospital-stay policies, basic medical expense policies and major medical expense policies.

Any of these policies might cover various combinations of the above and may be paid in a lump sum. Some policies cover only accidents and not illness. As you might imagine, policies like this are very specific about what is considered an accident. It is important to understand what is defined as an accident as it pertains to the health insurance industry: an accident is an event that is unforeseen and unintended. Accident benefits are most commonly paid for accidental loss of life, accidental loss of limb or sight, loss of time and income, hospital expenses, surgical expenses, and medical expenses like visits to the doctor.

Accidental death benefit can also be referred to as ”principal sum.” This type of coverage should not be confused with life insurance. There is a world of difference between the two. Life insurance policies will generally be paid regardless of the cause of death. An accidental benefit is paid only if the death is accidental as opposed to a death by natural causes or illness.

The primary beneficiary is the first person in line to receive the benefit in the event of the death of the policy holder. The policy owner can also name a second beneficiary who would receive the benefit in the event the primary beneficiary dies before the insured. Some policies can include a third beneficiary who would be in line after the first two.