Healthcare Financial News

Americans are dissatisfied with the U.S. healthcare system and 82 percent think it should be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt, according to a new survey released Aug. 7 by the Commonwealth Fund. Nine out of 10 of those surveyed said they felt it was important that the two leading presidential candidates propose reform plans that would improve healthcare quality, ensure that all Americans can afford health care and insurance, and decrease the number of uninsured. One in three adults reported that their physicians had ordered a test that had already been done or recommended unnecessary treatment or care in the past two years. Adults across all income groups reported experiencing inefficient care. And, eight in 10 adults across income groups supported efforts to improve the health system’s performance with respect to access, quality, and cost.

The survey report, Public Views on U.S. Health Care System Organization: A Call for New Directions, found that, in addition to respondents’ overall dissatisfaction with the healthcare system, those surveyed also reported problems with access to health care--73 percent had a difficult time getting timely physicians’ appointments, phone advice, or after-hours care without having to go to the emergency department (ED). Although the uninsured were the most likely to report problems getting timely care without going to the ED, 26 percent of adults with health insurance also said it was difficult to get same-day or next-day appointments when they were sick. The survey of more than 1,000 adults was conducted by Harris Interactive in May 2008. Access the report.

Although the uninsured population in the United States is still dominated by native-born Americans, it is increasingly comprising immigrants, who account for about 55 percent of the increase in the U.S. uninsured population over a 12-year period ending in 2006, according to a study released Aug. 5 by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).

The study, published in the August 2008 EBRI Notes, reports that in 1994, immigrants accounted for 18.8 percent of the U.S. uninsured population, while by 2006 they accounted for 26.6 percent of the uninsured population. During the same period, native-born Americans dropped as a percentage of the uninsured, from 81.2 percent in 1994 to 73.4 percent in 2006.

The uninsured immigrant population increased from 6.9 million in 1994 to 12.3 million in 2006, an 80 percent increase. By comparison, the uninsured native-born population increased from 29.7 million to 34.1 million, a 15 percent increase over the same period. The study, which uses Census Bureau data, does not differentiate the legal status of the immigrants. Illegal immigrants probably are included but cannot be identified as such, says the study. Read the report.