Opinion ID: 223249
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Data about the Uninsured and Uncompensated Care

Text: So who are the uninsured? As to health care usage, the uninsured do not fall into a single category. Many of the uninsured do not seek health care each year. Of course, many do. In 2007, 57% of the 40 million uninsured that year used some medical services; in 2008, 56% of the 41 million uninsured that year used some medical services. [20] As to medical services, 50% of uninsured people had routine checkups in the past two years; 68% of uninsured people had routine checkups in the past five years. [21] In 2008, the uninsured made more than 20 million visits to emergency rooms, [22] and 2.1 million were hospitalized. [23] The medical care used by each uninsured person cost about $2,000 on average in 2007, and $1,870 on average in 2008. [24] When the uninsured do seek health care, what happens? Some pay in full. Some partially pay. Some pay nothing. Data show the uninsured paid on average 37% of their health care costs out of pocket in 2007, and 46.01% in 2008, [25] while third parties pay another 26% on their behalf. [26] Not surprisingly, the poorer uninsured, on average, consume more health care for which they do not pay. [27] Even in households at or above the median income level ($41,214) in 2000, the uninsured paid, on average, less than half their medical care costs. [28] It is also undisputed that people are uninsured for a wide variety of reasons. The uninsured are spread across different income brackets: (1) less than $25,000: 15.5 million uninsured, or about 31%; (2) $25,000 to $49,999: 15.3 million uninsured, or about 30%; (3) $50,000 to $74,999: 9.4 million uninsured, or about 18%; (4) $75,000 or more: 10.6 million uninsured, or about 21%. [29] As the data show, many of the uninsured have low to moderate incomes and simply cannot afford insurance. Some of the uninsured can afford insurance and tried to obtain it, but were denied coverage based on health status. [30] Some are voluntarily uninsured and self-finance because they can pay for their medical care or have modest medical care needs. Some may not have considered the issue. There is no one reason why people are uninsured. It is also not surprising, therefore, that Congress has attacked the uninsured problem through multiple reforms and numerous avenues in the Act that we outline later. Given these identified problems, congressional findings, and data as background, we now turn to Congress's legislative response in the Act.