Wednesday, December 18, 2002

Let uninsured workers, others, buy into Medicaid

If you are lucky enough to have health insurance, do you wonder why your premium goes up each year and in some years the raise is 15 percent or more? Much of the cost is due to prices hospitals are charging.

One of the large costs passed on to the insured is paying the bills of the family, friends and neighbors who do not have insurance. In one medium-sized hospital in metro Atlanta's northside the cost for uninsured was $22 million in 2000.

In most Georgia counties that entire bill is mainly paid for by the insured with the federal government only picking up a small percentage of the bill and the state government little to none. Few Georgia counties help pay medical bills.

Somebody has to pay the medical bills of working people who do not get group insurance from an employer and cannot afford to pay a multi-thousand dollar medical bill. More small companies each year stop offering group health insurance because of the cost.

What can be done to stop or almost stop this problem? Congress can allow the uninsured to buy into Medicaid at a sliding scale. The Medicaid cost will go up but that amount can be spread among all taxpayers instead of just the insured, and the cost will go down because people will go to doctors for care instead of emergency rooms. They will also get preventive care instead of waiting until the high cost of caring for a true emergency.

Congress can also make it illegal for insurance companies to ask about or base rates on preexisting conditions. They can also require that all individuals in a state seeking individual policies be put in one large group and base the pricing for them like they do all groups seeking medical insurance.

Please write Senator Zell Miller, Senator-elect Saxby Chambliss and your Congressman and tell them to make Medicaid reform a major issue during the upcoming Congress.

Chris Hagin

Fayetteville