Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T09:17:01.322Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Consequences of Uninsurance for Individuals, Families, Communities, and the Nation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Extract

Until very recently, the lack of health insurance has been viewed primarily as a problem of financial risk for uninsured individuals. This article documents far broader adverse effects, drawn from the work of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on the Consequences of Uninsurance. It also synthesizes the Committee’s key findings, conclusions, and recommendations.

In early 2004, following 3½ years of study, the IOM Committee on the Consequences of Uninsurance recommended that “...the President and Congress develop a strategy to achieve universal insurance coverage and establish a firm and explicit schedule to reach this goal by 2010.” The Committee presented 5 principles to be used to assess various proposals for extending coverage or to guide the design of a new strategy, specifying that health care coverage should be universal, continuous, affordable to individuals and families, and affordable and sustainable for society.

Type
Symposium
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Institute of Medicine, Insuring America’s Health: Principles and Recommendations (Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2004): at 156.Google Scholar
Zuvekas, S.H. and Weinick, R.M., “Changes in Access to Care, 1977–1996: The Role of Health Insurance,” Health Services Research 34, no. 1 (1999): 271279; Weinick, R.M. Zuvekas, S.J. and Cohen, J.W., “Racial and Ethnic Differences in Access to and Use of Health Care Services, 1977–1996,” Medical Care Research Review 57, supplement (2000): 36–54.Google Scholar
Institute of Medicine, Care Without Coverage: Too Little, Too Late (Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2002).Google Scholar
Id., at 6.Google Scholar
Institute of Medicine, Health Insurance Is a Family Matter (Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2002).Google Scholar
Institute of Medicine, supra note 1.Google Scholar
Institute of Medicine, supra note 1.Google Scholar
Institute of Medicine, supra note 5.Google Scholar
Institute of Medicine, A Shared Destiny: Community Effects of Uninsurance (Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2003).Google Scholar
U.S. Bureau of the Census, Table HI05. Health Insurance Coverage Status and Type of Coverage by State and Age for All People: 2002 (September 2003), Current Population Survey: Annual Demographic Survey- March Supplement Website at <http://ferret.bls.census.gov/macro/032003/health/h05_000.htm> (last visited June 21, 2004).+(last+visited+June+21,+2004).>Google Scholar
Institute of Medicine, Hidden Costs, Value Lost: Uninsurance in America (Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2003).Google Scholar
Hadley, J. and Holahan, J., “How Much Medical Care do the Uninsured Use, and Who Pays for it?” Health Affairs web exclusive, supplement Bethesda, MD: Project Hope, 2003): w3–66–w3–81.Google Scholar
Hadley, J. and Holahan, J., “The Costs of Care for the Uninsured: What Do We Spend, Who Pays, and What would Full Coverage Add to Medical Spending?” Issue Update, 2004 (Washington, D.C.: Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, 2004). This is an update of the authors' work presented in the IOM reports.Google Scholar
Institute of Medicine, supra note 12, at 115.Google Scholar