By Chip Kahn, President and CEO, Federation of American Hospitals
A potentially deadly narrative is gaining ground in the health policy space that health insurance coverage isn’t critical to Americans or their health outcomes. Those who believe this theory argue that increased health coverage has resulted in an increase in health care utilization but has not made Americans healthier.
While this might be a convenient argument to justify cuts to over 70 million Americans’ health care coverage, the argument is quickly debunked from an academic standpoint when you look at study after study underscoring how coverage improves Americans’ health outcomes. It becomes even more obvious the narrative does not pass the smell test when you think about it from a practical standpoint. Imagine how difficult it would be to access needed care if you were a patient navigating cancer treatment – do you think you’d have a better chance to beat the disease with health insurance or without? Or what about if you had diabetes – would you be better able to manage the disease with insurance covering insulin and your regular medical appointments, ensuring you never had to choose between food, rent, or medical care? The answer is obvious.
We’re all patients sooner or later. At one time or another, we all get sick and need care. Whether it be a temporary illness or the onset of a more dire condition, we cannot control whether we need medical care. What we can control is how and when we seek treatment, and health care coverage is a critical factor in that decision.
Let’s look at the facts. The overwhelming majority of research shows increased coverage leads to improved access to care and more positive health outcomes. These studies paint a clear picture: Americans with health coverage are more likely to go to the doctor for regular checkups, seek preventative services, and avoid emergency hospitalizations than those without. In contrast, uninsured patients often delay seeking care, leading to more severe health issues and ending up in hospital emergency rooms in more dire conditions.
The domino effect: Patients with more serious conditions need more extensive and costly health services and treatments. Hospitals treat every patient who walks through their doors, and when those patients lack coverage, the providers eat the cost of care. So, then what? When more and more patients lack coverage – possibly the result of Medicaid cuts or the impending expiration of the individual marketplace’s enhanced tax credits – the amount of uncompensated care adds up and strains hospital finances. Many hospitals – particularly in rural areas – already operate with thin or negative margins, so when hospitals are pushed to the brink, they are often left with an impossible choice: close their doors, shutter services, or raise costs for all patients.
Good health & good coverage go hand in hand: When you take a step back, both the data and our own common sense clearly show maintaining good health depends on having good health coverage. Today, nearly 40 percent of Americans depend on Medicare or Medicaid for their health care, and a record 24 million Americans bought health coverage on the individual marketplace. All told, over 90 percent of Americans have health coverage today – a record high.
As Congress and the Administration focus on creating a healthier, stronger America, they should start by building on our incredible strides in coverage instead of putting that success in jeopardy. Cuts to Medicaid’s federal-state partnership will cause Americans to lose coverage and will harm all patients’ access to care. Failure to extend the individual marketplace’s enhanced tax credits will cause 5 million Americans to lose coverage and will lead to millions more seeing their health costs skyrocket by 93%.
Good coverage is good care, and good care is good health.
One thing I know to be true: we can’t make America healthier by pulling the rug out from under millions of Americans and cutting the coverage they rely on for their health and wellbeing.
