Reason for Lack of Insurance
Insurance companies and employment contracts influence why many lack health care. Once a visit to a doctor’s office was cost effective for a family, and than health insurance became an employment benefit. At the time, health insurance and employment became tied, health insurance became the means to control health care. At this time, most cannot afford health care or insurance if their employers do not offer.health care. It gave insurance companies control of health care.
1950s to the End of the Century
In 1950’s a visit to a doctor’s office was $7 and doctors would bill for that amount Now if you have a doctor who will take you as a patient without health care you must pay $150 and it must be paid at the time of service.. During this decade, employers started offering health insurance as a benefit with full coverage. Employers added family members with maybe a family deductible. Two parents working could possible both carry insurance on the family and the deductible would disappear. It was the era of full health care, but it would not last long.
Union saw this item as a needed contract addition and employers began to wonder if they could afford a full time work force. The bringing in the third party changed the nature of health care. By the end of the 20th century health insuranc, inurance start ed to morph out of control. No longer were employers willing and or able to pay the cost of premiums for their employees and families. The return to paying only for the employee began to develop and than the employee paid for family coverage at supposedly a low rate, but many saw this rate go up every year and more and more co-payments and ever increasing prescriptions co-payments.
21st Century
The new century has brought health insurance that no one can afford, treatment controlled by a third party, employees doing without health insurance because they work two party time job rather than one full time job to prevent an employer from having to provide health insurance/. The cost of insurance and co-payments has made it costly for people with health insurance to get health care emergency rooms are the only health care available for a large majority of the nation. With these provisions, many are waiting until the problems are too advanced. Preventative health care has disappeared. The most up to date health procedures or drug are not covered by insurance so if someone wants the most advanced treatment the patient must pay for it themselves. Hospitals are buying up medical practices and doctors are becoming employees.
If only we could go back to the doctor with the small office charge that was much smaller than the co-payments that we pay today, doctors could still live in the best neighborhoods, control treatment of each patients and own his own practice without hiring some one to handle insurance.