U.S. Health Care System Limitations Affect Insured As Well, Column States

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 20 Nov 2007 - 9:00 PDT

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"The tedious, hair-splitting debates over health care that we're getting from the presidential candidates -- those who talk about health care at all -- seem out of sync with the enormity of the problem," Bob Herbert writes in a New York Times column. He continues, "For families without the protection of health insurance, the devastating combination of serious illness and imminent financial ruin can be absolutely mind-numbing, stunning in its tragic intensity."

However, while much of the health care debate "has centered on people without insurance," there also are cases "all over the country in which individuals are working and paying for coverage that, perversely, kicks out when a devastating illness kicks in," Herbert writes. U.S. residents "with inadequate health coverage -- the underinsured -- are a major component of the national health care crisis," Herbert says, adding, "Like the uninsured, they can be denied desperately needed treatment for financial reasons; they often suffer financial ruin; and in many cases, they die unnecessarily" (Herbert, New York Times, 11/17).

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