COVID-19 Will Change The U.S. Health Care System Forever

The Health Care System May Break

There are so many fronts the United States government is battling in combating the COVID-19 Virus. While there are countries around the world that offered Free COVID-19 testing from the very early stages of the virus spread. The United States delayed the topic to what may seems beyond the last minute. 

While there are plenty of fronts the United States Government is trying to tackle. The biggest may be simply getting people to seek the care they need. The sad truth is that here in the United States there are many people that are simply afraid to get tested and treated. 

Let’s just go over three categories of people that most likely fall in this front. 

The Uninsured

According to the United States Census Bureau in 2018 There were approximately 27.5 million people in the United States without any kind of health insurance. When trying to face an issue like stopping the spread of COVID-19 you also have to stop people for transmitting it.

The Issue

How do you tell someone that cannot afford health insurance to get tested and treated. Time Magazine just came out with a story that shares the cost of what a women was billed for while getting treated for the COVID-19 Virus.

This person was uninsured and received a bill for $34,927.43. 

Even though the US Government is trying to stop the spread as much as it possibly can. It will be Incredibly difficult to convince people that are afraid of even getting test to go get tested and treated.

Even though the Uninsured maybe a difficult front for the government to overcome. There are two other categories of people that may pose an even greater threat to stopping the spread of the virus. 

The Under Insured

Here in the United States there are many levels and kind of health insurance that you can purchase and with most of them. The costs to be treated can still be very expensive.  

Here are some estimated costs complied by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Private Health Insurance

Cost Sharing

• • Your cost depends on the amount of Out-Of-Pocket costs your required to cover before your health insurance kicks in.
    • Here are the limits of your costs.
      • $8,150 for single coverage
      • $16,300 For a family Policy
      • Depending on the level of health insurance you purchased you may be required to pay one of the amounts before your insurance even kicks in. But your cost may be much less depending the your specific plan, these are maximums.
      • This is according to HealthCare.gov

Provider Networks

• • This is a very popular plan. This plan usually requires you to pay 20-50% or the care you receive
    • In-network costs are usually 20%
    • Out-of-network cost can be 50%
      • With the average costs to be treated for COVID-19 ranging from $9,763 to $20,20292.  your cost can quickly skyrocket. 

Even though we live in an amazing country our health care is extremely expensive. Even people that have great health care can many times get large bills that can be very difficult to over come. But, even though these two catagories may already be massive hurdles for the United States Government to overcome to solve this epidemic. There still is one more group that can be even more difficult to help.

The Ones That Just Can’t Afford It

This is probably one of the hardest groups of people to help. This group of people can be from either one of other two categories. They can simply be uninsured because they just can’t afford health care in general. Or they maybe insured with limits that they simply can’t afford. Making their insurance just a step above uninsured. Virtually the same thing because they can afford the deductible for their insurance to kick in. 

Even when you take the topic of insurance out of the equation. You are asking someone that maybe living pay check to pay check to just stop working. It may be simple to think that they can just make it up later. But, when someone is working pay check to pay check. Even minimal money lost can have a massive effect on someone’s life. 

The Statistics of Money in America

When the theory of people in the United States all have money is used. The theory can be drastically wrong . Yes there are plenty of people that have vast wealth but according to a story Yahoo Finance posted. 58% of all Americans have less than $1,000 in savings. 

• • According to the United States Census Bureau The United States Has 329,422,252 people. 
  • If 58% of all Americans have less than $1,000 that is 191,064,906 people can’t afford a $1,000 bill. Let’s take this a bit further.
  • Yahoo’s same survey said that 79% of the population has $9,999 or less in savings.
  • Hypothetically if the total cost of contracting the Cover-19 Virus when you include out of pocket expenses for health care, loss of works, and any other miscellaneous costs is $10,000 or more. 260,243,579 People in the United States could not afford it. 

Final Thought

The COVID-19 Virus Runs the possibility of literally bankrupting the majority of Americans simply in health care costs. If you get sick you should seek care and know that you are not alone. There are politicians that you elect just make sure you make your voice and your vote heard.