According to a recent Gallup poll, Texas leads the nation in a frightening statistic: the number of uninsured adults. Nearly one in three Texans lacked health insurance in 2010. Experts point to the economy as a reason for the high numbers of uninsured adults. Many people who were laid off or terminated from their jobs because of the recession lost access to group health coverage through their employers. For many except the most desperately in need of health insurance, the cost of COBRA health coverage premiums was too great to justify enrolling in health care coverage. As a result, about 16 percent of all Americans now have no health insurance.
The Gallup poll also showed regional variations on the question of health care coverage. Residents of states in the South and West had much higher numbers of uninsured adults. States in the Northeast, as well as Minnesota and Hawaii, had high numbers of insured adults. The survey also showed a startling statistic that may explain Texas' higher uninsured rates to some extent: nearly four in ten persons of Hispanic or Latino origin lacked health insurance.
The new health care law contains many promising reforms to increase the number of adults in this country that are covered by health insurance, but many of its provisions do not go into effect until 2014.
New Health Care Law Doesn't Prevent Insurance Claim Denials
The health care reforms do not and cannot ever address one other distressing aspect of health insurance: dealing with health insurers and insurance claim denials.
The Affordable Care Act expands access to health care insurance to more people: younger Americans who do not have access through an employer's insurance, others with pre-existing conditions that were previously denied insurance, as well as those with high-cost health care needs that had previously reached insurers' caps on claims. But health care reform does not address the nitty-gritty details of dealing with your health care insurer: appealing denied claims, gathering documentation, and getting health care services approved. In fact, insurers have the right to create hoops to insurance claim approval as part of running a business — no health care reform is likely to change that.
And, as more health care plan participants are added to the rolls, insurers may create even more hoops to deal with insurance claims. Thus, while more Texans may have health coverage in the future, many may still struggle to receive the payments they are entitled to under their plans.
If your health care claim as been denied, you may need the help of an experienced insurance bad faith attorney to appeal your denied insurance claim.
