No Health Insurance
Although there is no legal requirement to have health insurance in the US at this time, it is highly advisable to buy into some form of health insurance plan. The rising cost of medical procedures, hospital care, physician appointments and prescription drugs now means that having no health insurance can result in serious financial difficulties and, in some cases, bankruptcy.
In 2009 the Census Bureau reported that close to 37 million US citizens live from day to day with no health insurance. This means that anything relating to their health care, medicine, dental, vision, chiropractic, etc. has to be paid for from their own pocket – and as we all know this can quickly become a very expensive game.
Below are a few examples of the average cost of certain health related procedures. Obviously these will differ from state to state but in general they reflect the prices paid by uninsured people.
- Emergency room treatment – the costs in this case are very variable and depend to a large extent on exactly what treatment is given, for example setting broken limbs, emergency medications, surgery, sutures etc. An initial consultation, an x-ray and a cast for a broken limb can run to $2000.
- Physician appointment – a basic consultation with no tests or referrals costs between $110-200 in most states.
- Dental appointments – for a regular check up a person with no health insurance will pay between $50 and $80. This can be compared to a visit with health insurance which costs around $20.
- Prescription medications – certain types of medication, such as those that help to lower cholesterol can cost over $300 for a three month supply. Obviously these are needed on an ongoing basis and so you can end up paying over $1000 per year for a single type of drug.
Ideally, when it comes to health no insurance coverage should never be an option. Regardless of what type of treatment you receive you will be billed for it and you will be expected to find a way to pay.
A lot of physician practices and hospitals offer discounts and payment schedules to those with no health insurance. There is also a variety of state aid options that you can apply for if you can’t pay. In one way or another though you will need to pay your medical bills in full, and in the case of emergency treatment or long term hospital care the total can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. With this in mind, it may be worth looking around for an affordable health insurance plan before you actually need it.