Viable strategies for dealing with the uninsured

One reality of the indigent care problem facing the US is that the majority of its victims are employed workers and their dependents. As the service industry has burgeoned, the number of small businesses offering minimal fringe benefits has grown and the number of uninsured workers has increased. Tw...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health Affairs 1987, Vol.6 (1), p.33-46
Main Author: Wilensky, G R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Employee benefits
Finance
Health Benefit Plans, Employee
Health care
Health Expenditures
Health insurance
Health Services Accessibility - economics
Humans
Indigent care
Insurance coverage
Insurance policies
Insurance, Health
Medicaid
Medicaid-US
Medical care
Medical Indigency
Medical service
National health insurance
Non
Poor
Small business
Taxation
Unemployment
Uninsured people
Uninsured persons
United States
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Summary:One reality of the indigent care problem facing the US is that the majority of its victims are employed workers and their dependents. As the service industry has burgeoned, the number of small businesses offering minimal fringe benefits has grown and the number of uninsured workers has increased. Two strategies could be followed to cover the uninsured: 1. a complete restructuring of the system, or 2. incremental "gap filling." One proposal for restructuring would involve the issuance of vouchers for the poor and tax credits for the nonpoor, which would be applicable to the purchase of health insurance policies meeting certain minimum requirements. Incremental strategies must consider the special needs of 3 groups: 1. the nonworking uninsured, 2. the employed uninsured, and 3. the medically uninsurable. Incremental strategies could include: 1. establishing minimum federal standards for Medicaid income eligibility levels, 2. instituting an income-related buy-in program for those above the minimum level, and 3. requiring that employers offer health insurance.
ISSN:0278-2715
1544-5208
DOI:10.1377/hlthaff.6.1.33