Some operations cost tens of thousands of dollars. Health insurance exists to help pay these bills. It gives you vital protection against the unpredictable expenses of serious illness, accident or injury - expenses that can wipe out your savings or even bankrupt you. It also helps pay for routine visits to the doctor to keep you healthy. In recent years, health insurance has become much more complicated.
Many businesses offer employees an array of health insurance choices.
Lawmakers in Washington and across the nation have been debating for years how best to increase the number of people who have health insurance and to make coverage more affordable. This fact sheet gives you a snapshot of health insurance in the United States today. How many have health insurance varies over time as people move from job to job, leave the workforce temporarily, go on and off public assistance programs, or otherwise have their circumstances change. The statistics show your chance of having a spell in which you do not have the security of health insurance protection is quite high- and rising. Taking just people between age 18 and 64, one in three is either currently uninsured or had a gap in coverage in the past two years.