The Financial Problems of Living Without Health Insurance

As health insurance gets more expensive with every passing year, the number of people living without it increases at an alarming rate. Significant problems can result from living without health insurance, with the financial problems being the most potentially damaging. Understanding the most common financial dangers that come from having no medical coverage may help you prepare for unforeseen costs associated with necessary medical treatment.

Routine Checkups

• One of the keys to staying healthy is getting regular annual physical exams. Routine checkups and screenings ensure your body continues to function properly. They also detect abnormalities that may indicate the beginning stages of dangerous conditions, abnormalities that could otherwise develop into more severe health conditions. Without health insurance, routine exams and the battery of laboratory tests that accompany checkups may require a significant financial investment. If such an outlay is beyond your capabilities, you run a higher risk of developing conditions that could have otherwise been treated or prevented entirely.

Accidents

• Regardless of how well you treat your body, or how careful your behavior is, accidents can happen at any time. Certain situations and their outcomes are simply beyond your control. If you become the victim of a serious accident, medical treatment may become necessary to save your life. Emergency medical care often costs more than regular routine treatment, so depending on the severity of your accident, you may leave the hospital with a mountain of invoices.

Necessary Procedures

• Without health insurance, many people delay or entirely avoid having necessary procedures done for fear of being unable to pay for such treatment. They are often able to rationalize this procrastination because the procedures might not be necessary to save their lives, but rather might just mprove or enhance its quality. Living in pain is often justified and often accepted by those without the financial means to pay for procedures.

Prescription Medications

• The number of pharmaceuticals available to treat various illnesses and conditions seems to expand exponentially every year. Unfortunately, the exorbitant retail cost of necessary medications might be beyond your reach. Without health insurance, you must pay the full price of your medication. Typically, generic drugs cost much less than branded ones, but not all medications have a generic substitute. If your income is insufficient to continue paying the full retail cost of prescriptions, the quality of your health may suffer.

Getting Insurance Later

• In addition to the immediate financial problems of living without health insurance, the future of your medical coverage and insurability may suffer. In most states, the price of health insurance depends on a number of factors that include your prior medical treatment and insurance coverage history. Remaining uninsured for long periods concerns insurance carriers, who may increase your premiums to offset the potential risk of providing you with new benefits.