Health insurers recently posted first-quarter profits that were higher than they expected them to be. This is largely due to the fact that people who have health insurance are not using it nearly as much as they did in the past. It is difficult to predict how long this new trend will continue, but, there are some clear reasons why this is happening.
Right now, many Americans are having great difficultly finding health insurance that they can afford. There are changes being made that could alleviate this problem in 2014, but, at this moment, there are a lot of people who do not have health insurance.
One would assume that those who do have health insurance would be using it when they needed to. Instead, insurance companies are noticing that their customers still are avoiding going to see doctors. This, of course, is resulting in a greater than expected profit for the insurance companies.
Why is this happening? One reason has to do with cost. Yes, having health insurance is a good way for people to cut down on their health and medical bills. The problem is that many health insurance policies require people to pay for a co-pay when they visit the doctor. Some insurance policies make people pay down a deductible before they will start covering a person’s medical bills. This can be more expensive than some people can afford to pay for.
Most people who do have health insurance are getting it as a job benefit from their employer. In the past, the trend was that once a person’s health insurance kicked in, they immediately started using it. I think the reason for this is obvious.
In general, if you didn’t have a job that came with health insurance, then you couldn’t afford to go see a doctor, dentist, or eye doctor, when you needed to. You would have to put off getting your medical needs tended to until after you could afford it. Once you were finally able to secure employment that included a health insurance benefit, it makes sense that you would rush to get your neglected health needs taken care of. This is especially true for people who had health issues that caused them pain when left untreated.
Things have changed, however. Over the past few years, America has had an extremely high unemployment rate. In many states, the unemployment rate is still quite high. It is a struggle to find employment of any kind.
Those who are lucky enough to be hired at companies that offer employer sponsored health insurance could have concerns about using their health insurance right away. What would their new boss think about an employee who immediately needs to take time off of work, for health reasons? Some procedures will require a person to take more than a couple of days off. There is potential that people are fearful of losing their jobs from taking too much time off of work in order to take care of their health issues.
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