The state of Georgia consumer advocate group Georgia Watch has issued a report on health care affordability within the state. Most notably, the report indicates that Georgia is ranks sixth in the nation in terms of the number of citizens who do not have health insurance coverage.
"According to the report, many of Georgia’s citizens without health insurance simply avoid preventative care due to the cost of medicine. For those who admit that they had not seen a doctor in the past 12 months, 16.4 percent of respondents indicated that they avoided doctor visits simply due to the cost", said Morgan Moran of Georgia Health Insurance Web.
As far as the percentage of the uninsured in Georgia, the state ranks 11th as compared to the nationwide average. Those aged between 18 and 64 had whom had no health insurance coverage in 2007 accounted for 25 percent of all Georgians. Due to their age, these individuals would not qualify for Medicare benefits very easily and cannot qualify for Medicare.
South central George contains counties with the largest percentages of the uninsured at 25 percent, while the metro Atlanta area had the lowest percentages of the uninsured at 9 percent.
Race seems to play a factor in these figures. There are almost twice as many blacks that are uninsured as whites, and the number of Hispanics without insurance is higher than the number of white people without health care insurance. The reasons for this are largely due to the job sector occupied by various minorities, which tend to occupy more of the agricultural or service sector jobs. Employers in these industries rarely pay for group health insurance benefits.
Adding to the health care problem in Georgia is the high cost of medical treatment. Average emergency room visits cost around $1,500 and in many cases, the uninsured will utilize this avenue as a way to get treatment they would otherwise not be able to obtain. Since they are often unable to pay for services, the cost gets passed down to the hospital, which charges other patients more resulting in higher overall medical costs and insurance costs.
Current viewpoints on a new health care bill also promote the idea that it will simply work to lower the cost of health care. With so many uninsured seeking emergency room care that goes unpaid, hospitals are forced to make up that cost by increasing the amount they charge to paying customers. If a national health care plan were in place, there would be no uninsured, so would this problem then be solved?
Many argue that Congress needs to act with a new health care reform bill as the solution to Georgia’s health care problem. Current projections indicate that the cost of an average health insurance policy for a family will double from $10,793 (2006 figures) to $22,796 by 2016, and this is after adjusting for inflation. "This will have a significant impact on the economy of Georgia as many more people will be unable to afford insurance, and those that can afford it will have even less disposable income to pay for goods and services in the surrounding economy", noted Moran.
