Out of Sight, Out of Reach

The good news: In the last decade, the rise in wages has kept pace with the rise in consumer prices—both have gone up by about 20 percent. The bad news: The cost of insurance premiums has nearly doubled in that same time period. Twenty years ago, an entire family could be insured for the same cost as an individual today.

That increase in insurance coverage is directly correlated to the rise in the number of uninsured Americans. Most uninsured prefer not to risk living without insurance; however, the primary reason 47 million Americans go uninsured is because they can’t afford it. Most are stretching every dollar to pay for their basic needs—rent, food, electricity—so they make the choice to go without insurance. Most are employed, but work where insurance isn’t provided. Employers that offer insurance absorb around 75 percent of a policy’s cost. Those who have to buy their own insurance spend well over 10 percent of their incomes on a policy that usually covers less.

To afford insurance, a single, pregnant woman living too far over the poverty level to receive assistance (a $10 an hour job in many states), would spend approximately $1500 per year from her $15,000 annual income on insurance. That leaves her less than $1000 per month to pay for everything else. At that income, she is ineligible for Medicaid, but incapable of affording insurance.

Without insurance, she is less likely to receive prenatal care, which means she is more likely to have complications with delivery and more likely to have a baby who needs expensive medical care.

Insurance costs are out of sight, which makes adequate medical care out of reach.

Fighting for uninsured and underinsured pregnant women,
Advocate Aaron