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Health Care: How the Injured and Their Attorneys are Benefiting from the Reform
Published: July 2, 2010
Author: Claudia N. Lombardo
Most people would agree that the passing of health care reform will largely define Barack Obama’s presidency. When Vice President Joe Biden called the reform’s passing a big deal (perhaps not in those words exactly), it was, at least partly, because Americans have been working towards changing the status quo since Theodore Roosevelt’s administration.
In order to understand the benefits of health care reform to uninsured and underinsured injury victims, one must understand the problems that led to reform.
A vast percentage of the country lacks health insurance: 15.8 percent in 2006 according to the U.S. Census Bureau, which does not include the 25 million underinsured Americans. When the uninsured or underinsured are injured, they require medical treatment. Hospitals expect to eat a lot of the costs in treating these individuals, $36 billion nationally according to the New York Times, but cannot eat all costs associated with treatment and still remain operable.
Hence, the injured are left figuring out how to pay medical costs, often billed out at full price since unlike insurance companies, individuals lack negotiation power with hospitals. As such, uninsured and underinsured injury victims are especially vulnerable to bankruptcy and financial ruin.
Even those individuals who have health insurance through their employer are affected. The following is a common scenario: Jane is insured by her employer. Jane is injured in a non-work related car accident. Initially, Jane’s medical care is covered, but the injury is serious enough that she is unable to return to work. Jane is terminated and cannot afford health insurance on her own.
This fictitious scenario is commonplace. Premiums have increased by 80 percent since 2001. Premium rates this high effectively price people out of the health insurance market.
Health care reform also has special significance to personal injury attorneys. Injury attorneys are particularly acute to the uninsured and underinsured problem. The passing of health care reform means that injury attorneys can spend less time trying to find health care solutions for their injured clients.
Personal injury attorneys are also pleased that the law has banned lifetime caps on the amount of insurance an individual can have. A ban on lifetime caps means that an individual who has been catastrophically injured will be covered for future care. Injury attorneys can now feel confident that clients will be taken care of for years to come.
Health care reform has yielded a tremendous amount of debate. Though this article does not represent all views on the issue, there is one thing we can probably all agree on: Those seriously injured by the acts of others should not have to choose between having a home and receiving medical care.
For more information on the benefits of health care reform to uninsured and underinsured injury victims, contact Axley Brynelson Attorney Guy DuBeau at 608.283.6704 or gdubeau@axley.com.
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