In a rather technical approach, the insurance policy term is used for purposes of describing various forms of which there is provision of protection against the medical services costs. Such usage includes personal insurance policy as well as social insurance policy applications like Medicare. These are pools resources that spread the financial risks linked to major medical expenses across the population with a goal of protecting everyone. This also caters for social welfare applications like Medicaid coupled with the Wellness Insurance Program by the State Children providing due assistance to various individuals who are not able to afford protection against health occurrences (Sered & Fernandopulle, 2006). The proportion of People in America having health insurance policy is steadily declining ever since 2000. In 2010, just less than 83% of the People in America had a form of health insurance policy that is aimed at addressing the medical insurance needs for close to 49 million individuals who were without protection for a considerable part of the year (Angel, Lein & Henrici, 2006). The declining protection rates and underinsurance are essentially been attributed to the rising high unemployment rates. While the pool of individuals having personal health insurance policies continues shrinking, the People in America are heavily reliant on the community insurance policies. Public applications currently serve 31% of the entire population coupled with 44% of the health proper care in terms of spending. The public insurance policy offerings tend to avail protection to the more vulnerable individuals having greater needs regarding health proper care (Reid, 2009).
Team wellness insurance plan organizations are profitable when more money is received in rates than is paid out in claims. Most US citizens receive group wellness insurance plan from their respective companies, which also pay part of the premium. This is due to the fact that organizations may give wellness insurance plan as an untaxed benefit. Federal tax policies in a way subsidize the employer-provided group insurance plan system. Those who lack an employer-sponsored plan have to acquire individual wellness insurance plans, which are expensive and traditionally deny one coverage if one had a pre-existing disease or condition (Quadagno, 2005). As early as 2011, it appeared the Affordable Proper care Act was working. As of May, more than 620,000 new teenagers became covered, taking advantage of the Act's provision that children up to age 26 could be covered by their parents' insurance plan. This increases profits for the plan providers, which should translate to lower rates, since the new insurees pay into the system but require less wellness services. In fact, wellness insurance plan organizations reported record profits for the first quarter of 2011. Further, 46% more small companies than in 2010 offered health care advantages. More covered small company employees less insolvencies, better credit scores and higher consumer demand. This allows them to spend more, boosting economic growth. In fact, there was less insolvency in August 2011 than the prior year (Boychuk, 2008). Planned family wellness insurance plan coverage is an expanded form of Hospital Indemnity programs. In recent years, these programs have taken the name mini-med programs or association programs. These programs may provide advantages for hospitalization, surgical, and physician services. However, they are not intended to replace a traditional comprehensive wellness insurance plan (Harrington & Estes, 2008). Planned family wellness insurance plan coverage are more of a basic policy providing access to day-to-day health care such as going to the doctor or getting a prescription drug, but these advantages will be limited and are not intended to be effective for catastrophic events.
References
Angel, R. J., Lein, L., Henrici, J., (2006) Poor Families in America's Health Care Crisis. New York: Cambridge University Press
Boychuk, G. W., (2008) National Health Insurance in the United States and Canada: Race, Territory, and the Roots of Difference. New York: Georgetown University Press
Harrington, C., Estes, C., (2008) Health Policy: Crisis and Reform in the U.S. Health Care Delivery System. New York: Jones & Bartlett Publishers
Quadagno, J., (2005) One Nation, Uninsured: Why the U.S. Has No National Health Insurance: Why the U.S. Has No National Health Insurance. New York: Oxford University Press
Reid, T. R., (2009) The healing of America: a global quest for better, cheaper, and fairer health care. New York: Penguin Press
Sered, S. S., Fernandopulle, R. J., (2006) Uninsured in America: Life and Death in the Land of Opportunity. New York: University of California Press