Are we heading to a “sicker” future?
As unemployment is rising, insurance coverage is falling. As many people are not insuring themselves, we are heading to a future with more emergency room admissions. Are we heading to a sicker future?
When you lose a job, you miss many aspects of it. You may miss your work, colleagues or the drive to and from work. But what many people are now missing about their jobs is their health insurance. Once taken for granted, health insurance become a necessity and your realize it only after the job is gone.
In Florida for example the state unemployment rate has surged from 5 percent in Jan 2008 to 8.6 percent one year later. The emergency room factor is worrying public health officials more than ever. By delaying routine care, uninsured people are at risk of being more sick in the future.
This fear seems to be becoming a reality as the heads of urgent care clinics are saying. In the last two three months, more and more sick kids are showing up. Tests and procedures that are expensive are being cut back upon. Unfortunately the huge number of uninsured resembles an epidemic.
One way to counter the problem of bad public health is to run a educational campaign on the benefits of good health and ways to achieve it. It will take just a small portion of the funds being spent of health insurance. The first maxim of health is prevention is better than cure. If every individual just took a half hour run in the morning or a half hour walk, it would make a world of difference to their individual health and the health of the nation and world.
