Lack of health insurance for all threatens quality of lifeTuesday, July 17, 2007
With our expanding economy, beautiful surroundings, wonderful climate and world-class health system, the Charleston region is a top-pick for business investment. It's hard to imagine life could get any better in our community. However, life could be much better for the more than 700,000 South Carolinians who have no health insurance and live in fear of getting sick or hurt. Life could be much better for the 60 percent of small businesses that can no longer afford to offer employees health insurance, and as a result, have difficulty attracting and keeping good people. Life could be much better for South Carolina's hospitals, which as a group provided $352.2 million in uncovered care in 2005, a cost that was shifted to companies with private health insurance. Life could also be better for companies that have experienced double-digit increases in health insurance premiums, forcing them to rethink their employee benefit plans. Indeed, despite all of the wonderful things happening in our community, all is not well in Charleston and the state of South Carolina at large. The growing number of people without health insurance threatens our state's rebounding economy, inhibits our ability to attract new business and places a serious burden on hospitals and doctors. Although our state has always had people without some form of government-sponsored or private health insurance, the identity of the uninsured person has changed dramatically in recent years. Three out of five adults without health insurance have a job. Nearly 60 percent are white, and 33 percent are African-American. Fifteen percent are children. While most simply don't have health insurance, others choose not to participate in employer-sponsored health plans because their portion of the cost is too high. They need the money for housing, food, clothing for their children or just simply to get by. The uninsured may be your college-educated children, your neighbor, the man who takes care of your yard, and the numbers are growing. This is not to say the uninsured don't get health care services. They do. Typically they seek care at the nearest hospital emergency room. While it is part of the mission of Charleston area hospitals to care for those in need, the emergency room is not the appropriate place to treat the flu or a cold. Emergency care is specialized and therefore expensive. To cover the cost of treating the uninsured, hospitals have had to increase the prices charged to those with private health insurance, driving up health insurance costs. It is an ugly cycle with ill effects. Employer-sponsored health insurance used to be a given in our state, but not any more. While 95 percent of companies with 50 or more employees continue to offer health insurance, just 40 percent of those with fewer than 50 employees do. To keep health insurance "affordable," employers are shifting more of the cost to their workers. These costs may include increasing deductibles and other out-of-pocket expenses. It's a painful shift. Since 2000, the cost of a family's health insurance coverage has risen 87 percent while workers' paychecks have increased just 20 percent. The far more serious consequence of high health insurance costs is companies that move their operations to other states or countries where the cost of doing business is lower. Some are shutting their businesses altogether. This is an all too familiar tale in South Carolina and one we would like to avoid in the future. The challenges we face are not unique to South Carolina. Throughout America, states are wrestling with the issue of providing health care coverage for their citizens. One state in particular, Massachusetts, has gone so far as to pass a law mandating that all of its citizens have health insurance coverage by 2009. It is an approach that bears watching. This is clearly a politically sensitive issue, but if we are to preserve our enviable quality of life and enjoy the fruits of a healthy economy, the need for affordable health coverage for all South Carolinians must be recognized, and more importantly, addressed. We accept the challenge and encourage others in positions of leadership in government and in business to join us in formulating a solution. DAVID L. DUNLAP, FACHE W. STUART SMITH FACHE ANDREA L. WOZNIAK, R.N. FACHE Copyright © 1997 - 2007 the Evening Post Publishing Co. |