Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

AMA: Individual responsibility for health insurance helps America’s patients, pocketbooks

Cecil B. Wilson, MD
Policy
May 12, 2011
Share
Tweet
Share

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

A wise physician once said, “Health is not valued til sickness comes.” The same can certainly be said about health insurance.

This concept is at the heart of our current debate about individual responsibility for health insurance coverage. While we hope never to need surgery or chemotherapy or to have an unexpected accident or illness, it’s certain that many of us will. Health insurance helps individuals get the care they need, while spreading out the financial risk for everyone.

Those who choose to be uninsured, exempting themselves from the risk pool, often place the responsibility of paying for their health care on the shoulders of others. If they are faced with a serious illness or accident, they risk bankruptcy. Uninsured families can only afford to fully pay for about 12 percent of their hospital stays, according to a new HHS report. If they can’t pay their bill, the cost of their care is shifted to others. The result: higher costs for everyone. This resulting cost shift is known as the “hidden health tax,” and it is estimated to add about $1,000 a year to the cost of every American family’s health coverage. These are staggering costs, and they are not sustainable.

Whether or not individuals can afford insurance or choose not to purchase it, a lack of insurance is harmful to the uninsured patients themselves. Those without basic health care coverage do not visit doctors regularly in order to stay healthy or to keep illnesses from getting worse. By the time they arrive in the emergency department, they are much sicker than they would have been with access to preventive care, and they are at a higher risk of dying prematurely.

The American Medical Association (AMA) has long supported individual responsibility to purchase health insurance for those who can afford it and subsidies for those who can’t to help remedy this situation. The AMA established policy on individual responsibility in 2006 and reaffirmed it in 2010. This policy does not dictate what specific type of health insurance needs to be purchased, nor from whom it must be purchased. It must contain, at a minimum, coverage for catastrophic and preventive services, and subsidies should be provided to help with the purchase of insurance for those who need them. The AMA has advocated that a high-deductible health insurance plan, in conjunction with a health savings account, could be an option for some individuals and families.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes a provision similar to AMA policy on individual responsibility, which is scheduled to take effect in 2014. The Congressional Budget Office predicts the ACA will expand coverage to 32 million more Americans by 2016. Several of the new benefits included in the health reform law, such as an end to coverage denials based on pre-existing conditions, are only made possible by increasing the number of Americans participating in the health insurance market.

Individual responsibility is not a new concept – it has bipartisan roots from proposals in the late 1980s and 1990s authored by the Heritage Foundation, and it was supported in Massachusetts under the administration of former governor Mitt Romney.

Individual responsibility for health insurance allows patients to take ownership of their health care needs, decreases the number of uninsured — now estimated at 50 million nationwide — and helps make popular insurance market reforms possible. By promoting individual responsibility and increasing the number of insured individuals, we improve the health of Americans and keep hidden costs from being passed along to all of us.

Cecil B. Wilson is President of the American Medical Association.

Submit a guest post and be heard on social media’s leading physician voice.

Prev

Cigarette taxes work and why they are still too low

May 12, 2011 Kevin 22
…
Next

Mental health and the shortage of psychiatric help in the ER

May 12, 2011 Kevin 4
…

Tagged as: Patients, Public Health & Policy

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Cigarette taxes work and why they are still too low
Next Post >
Mental health and the shortage of psychiatric help in the ER

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Cecil B. Wilson, MD

  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    AMA working to improve e-prescribing incentives and help physicians adopt health IT

    Cecil B. Wilson, MD
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    AMA: Revisions, clarity needed before physicians form Medicare ACOs

    Cecil B. Wilson, MD
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    AMA: Getting the best value for our health care dollars

    Cecil B. Wilson, MD

More in Policy

  • Bundled payments in Medicare: Will fixed pricing reshape surgery costs?

    AMA Committee on Economics and Quality in Medicine, Medical Student Section
  • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

    Joshua Vasquez, MD
  • Online eye exams spark legal battle over health care access

    Joshua Windham, JD and Daryl James
  • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

    Holland Haynie, MD
  • Why health care leaders fail at execution—and how to fix it

    Dave Cummings, RN
  • Healing the doctor-patient relationship by attacking administrative inefficiencies

    Allen Fredrickson
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • The shocking risk every smart student faces when applying to medical school

      Curtis G. Graham, MD | Physician
    • Why specialist pain clinics and addiction treatment services require strong primary care

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • Harassment and overreach are driving physicians to quit

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Physician
    • Why so many doctors secretly feel like imposters

      Ryan Nadelson, MD | Physician
    • Why peer support can save lives in high-pressure medical careers

      Maire Daugharty, MD | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
  • Recent Posts

    • Why so many doctors secretly feel like imposters

      Ryan Nadelson, MD | Physician
    • Why telling kids to eat less and move more fails to address obesity

      Callia Georgoulis | Conditions
    • Why enterprise risk management is key to value-based health care success

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Physician
    • Rethinking physician resilience for sustainable well-being

      Sarah Webber, MD | Physician
    • How shared language saved a patient from isolation

      Syed Ahmad Moosa, MD | Physician
    • The shocking risk every smart student faces when applying to medical school

      Curtis G. Graham, MD | Physician

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 26 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • The shocking risk every smart student faces when applying to medical school

      Curtis G. Graham, MD | Physician
    • Why specialist pain clinics and addiction treatment services require strong primary care

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • Harassment and overreach are driving physicians to quit

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Physician
    • Why so many doctors secretly feel like imposters

      Ryan Nadelson, MD | Physician
    • Why peer support can save lives in high-pressure medical careers

      Maire Daugharty, MD | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
  • Recent Posts

    • Why so many doctors secretly feel like imposters

      Ryan Nadelson, MD | Physician
    • Why telling kids to eat less and move more fails to address obesity

      Callia Georgoulis | Conditions
    • Why enterprise risk management is key to value-based health care success

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Physician
    • Rethinking physician resilience for sustainable well-being

      Sarah Webber, MD | Physician
    • How shared language saved a patient from isolation

      Syed Ahmad Moosa, MD | Physician
    • The shocking risk every smart student faces when applying to medical school

      Curtis G. Graham, MD | Physician

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

AMA: Individual responsibility for health insurance helps America’s patients, pocketbooks
26 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...