Obtaining medical care and sufficient insurance coverage.
Generally speaking, the quality of medical care in the United States is good. The issue is being able to afford and access appropriate medical care. One of the paramount issues is the situation involving obtaining quality medical care, and health insurance problems associated with obtaining access. Many primary health insurance problems plague a wide section of the population when it comes to accessing medical care.
Significance
Medical care and treatment is expensive. The vast majority of Americans are unable to access medical care, treatment and procedures in the absence of health insurance. Health insurance problems continue to restrict access to necessary medical care for Americans who face pre-existing condition exclusions and other issues.
Pre-Existing Condition
A pre-existing condition exclusion or rider in an insurance policy precludes a consumer from obtaining insurance coverage for a disease, ailment or other medical problem that is diagnosed before application for health insurance. In some cases, an insurance company permanently precludes coverage for a pre-existing condition. In other situations, an insurer won't cover costs associated with a pre-existing condition for a set time, commonly two to three years.
Policy Limits
Another set of health insurance problems centers on coverage caps found in many policies. These policy provisions limit the amount an insurance company pays, either in a particular period or for a particular treatment or procedure.
Termination
In considering medical care and health insurance problems, there generally is no restriction on health insurance companies from dropping an insured person who makes claims under a policy. In most cases, policies are renewed annually. There is nothing that requires an insurance company to renew a policyholder.
Effects
The net effect of these health insurance problems is that even consumers with health insurance don't have coverage necessary to obtain appropriate and necessary medical care. In the final analysis, consumers end up with significant medical-related debt and the costs of medical care continues to rise.
Tags: health insurance, insurance problems, medical care, health insurance problems, medical care
