A Potpourri of Health Insurance Stories

Hello, and welcome to this edition of the Weekly Health Insurance News Roundup. This week there are several stories that caught my eye as interesting and informative, but they don't share a specific theme, which is what I usually try and go for. Now, however, we will look at four interesting stories that I hope you will enjoy.

The first story, entitled "Guaranteed health care for all is doable," author Paul Krugman takes a look at why universal health care, as proposed by a recent Democratic platform document, is not that hard to achieve. The author lays out why it shouldn't be difficult to achieve despite several hurdles and reasons why pundits say it's not possible. Some say Americans are too individualized, and that no one would want universal coverage in this country. However, years of success with Medicare and the burgeoning success of the Massachusetts plan are showing that Americans DO indeed want mandated and/or universal coverage.

Mr. Krugman then goes into several hurdles that, when looked at simply, don't seem that overwhelming, but on a large scale could appear to be so. The first hurdle -- and this is somewhat biased on his part -- is that the "Democrats have to win the election." I usually try to keep politics out of these news briefs, but I felt that, politics aside, the article raises some valid points in its next portion. The second hurdle, according to the author, is overcoming the public's fear of change. While some people might not want to give up individualized health insurance, the author states its "better to have an imperfect universal health care plan than none at all," which makes a lot of sense.

The final hurdle the author mentions is loss of focus. With a weakening economy, two wars overseas and foreign policy problems, it would be easy for a new president and congress to put universal health insurance on the backburner to deal with these issues. Overall, even with its slight political bent, this article raises some valid points that politicians and individuals need to keep in mind when talking about universal and affordable health insurance coverage.

The next two interesting articles of the week have a similar theme. The first, entitled, "Study finds many Hispanics forgoing routine health care," shows a disturbing amount of Hispanic individuals and families put off getting basic health care, or even having a primary physician, mostly due to money but also cultural norms. In the article, they say that 27% of Hispanics don't regularly see a doctor even though many of them have insurance. In response to a poll, most respondents who didn't have health insurance or health care providers didn't think they needed one. While there is a cultural issue here in which many Hispanics think they should handle health problems on their own, many also factor in the rising cost of health care as a deterrent.

The next article, entitled, "22% of Americans surveyed cut visits to doctor," shares a similar theme. In the article, author Victoria Colliver notes a recent study by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in which they state 22% of Americans have reduced regular visits to the doctor due to rising health care and health insurance costs, as well as a weakening economy. A lot of individuals and families are cutting back necessities due to the rising costs of food, fuel and other needed expenditures. While co-payments and reduced benefits are innately designed to prevent abuse of the health insurance system, according to the article, officials are concerned that these very costs will help prevent people from getting the health care they might need. It's a fairly eye-opening article that, in its own way, asks "What's important? Fuel, or health care coverage?" That's a question we should never have to ask, in this author's opinion.

That concludes this edition of the Weekly Health Insurance News Roundup. I hope you have found it enjoyable and informative, and until next time, may you be healthy and happy.