Health Insurance Articles

What Every American Should Know About The Health Insurance Mandate

2011-07-17

The U.S. government has passed a universal health insurance mandate covering nearly all Americans. This changes the way everyone views American health insurance because it will be required that every American has health insurance, taking the country one step closer to what many believe will be universal insurance.

Once the health insurance mandate takes effect, there are several things that will happen. The first is that it becomes more affordable for everyone to get insurance because the pool of insured becomes bigger and will also include healthy young Americans. This, together with government subsidies for low income Americans, should keep the premiums low; however, it also puts an additional strain on the budget of the government.

In addition, insurance companies will need to reissue many of their current policies to make it more affordable. This could mean taking away company-driven discounts. This translates to higher premiums being charged by insurance companies to individuals who were once getting their insurance as a benefit from the company that they worked for. If a person was always getting free insurance and that benefit disappears, this is an additional cost that many aren't prepared to pay.

In the long run, however, it could work out to benefit many people. Unbeknownst to many, hospitals are passing along the expenses of an uninsured person to their insured members through higher service fees, premiums and much more. This means that while you are doing everything right by being insured, the uninsured are making it impossible for you to get a discount.

With the mandate in place, everyone will be insured and, therefore, there would be no indiscriminate costs being passed to one party or another. Everyone who is sick can be seen by a doctor in the early stages of an illness. As it stands now, many of the uninsured wait until it has gone beyond just a basic illness or injury and then seek treatment in a hospital emergency room where costs are even higher.

There is a very delicate balance between several different aspects of the American health insurance industry, the governments and the individual that will take place when the health insurance mandate will have come into effect; health care subsidies and insurance reforms will both be up in the air.

The mandate is likely to put a dramatic financial strain on middle class families as they will suffer most from forced premiums they will have to pay. While there are subsidies in place for low income families, middle class families will have to burden that additional expense themselves. However, if the mandate does indeed stop the ridiculous annual cost increases in health insurance premiums, ultimately everybody will benefit.