Uninsured Individuals in the USA - Essay Example

"Uninsured Individuals in the USA" is an excellent example of a paper on the health system.
According to a report from the Kaiser's Commission on Medicaid and the uninsured (KCMU) of 2003 January, up to 40.9 million Americans that equals to 16.5% of the entire population below the age of 65 in the U.S were not insured by 2001. It is worth noting that adults of less than 65 years in the U.S contribute to ¾ of the entire uninsured individuals. As a result, the growing number of uninsured individuals in the U.S is posing a significant problem. In 2005, the number of uninsured individuals was 15.3, but by 2006, the number had increased to 15.8 (Boshier, 2008). Therefore, the statistics show that more and more Americans go without public or private health insurance daily. This contributes significantly to patients being worried, due to their inability to pay for the health services at some point in time. This is a clear indication that about 20 individuals who visit one nurse in the U.S are uninsured. This adds up to uninsured individuals occupying 45 beds in up to 7,800 registered hospitals.

Therefore, a large number of uninsured people together with the bordered impact on communities and families contribute to significant problems in the U.S (Hoffman, 2007). According to surveys, most Americans believe that it is essential to reduce the number of uninsured individuals as a priority. However, this may not be straightforward as a majority think because it calls for a high degree of social and political consensuses that the nation has not been able to muster. The fact that a majority of individuals are not insured poses an enormous challenge to nurses’ ability to deliver their services efficiently. Nevertheless, the nurses are trying to manage the consequences by dealing with one patient at a time (Garson, 2006). This manner of handling the situation enables them to understand the reason why people do not take health insurance, which individuals are uninsured are and point out the importance of health insurance. Although most people know that they should take health insurance for their own benefit, they still go ahead to ignore the fact while giving various reasons for their actions.

According to statistics from a 2003 national survey, it is clear that a small portion of individuals uninsured claim that they do not need the benefits of insurance. Statistics also show that 69% of the uninsured individuals are full-time employees (Phillips, Schenck, Hughes, and Phillips, 2004). In addition, most of the low-income individuals are uninsured because they claim that they may not meet the costs of insurance. However, there are challenges that result in uninsured individuals. A survey conducted in 2003 showed that uninsured individuals might not have access to free charity care services that can handle their needs. In addition, lack of health insurance significantly affects an individual’s ability to access primary health care because of their inability to enjoy the advantages of primary and preventive care. In situations where an individual is uninsured and suffers from chronic ailments, he may end up postponing getting medical care due to lack of finances. As a result, this will lead to premature deaths. Finally, health insurance is most essential to ensure that individuals are able to access primary care services (Garson, 2006).