The Relationship Between Health and Health Insurance

In America, one of the most frequent complaints that people have is that there is no universal healthcare. It seems to make very little sense that while America remains a first-world country, there are millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans. The reason why healthcare in the country remains unavailable for so many is that there are healthcare entities that privatize it. They also employ lobbyists to do all they can to see that it remains privatized, so they’ll keep making as much profit as possible.

It’s anybody’s guess whether this will change at some point in this country or not. In the meantime, it’s worth knowing a little bit more about the direct relationship between medical problems and healthcare in America.

How Healthcare Works

We will start out with an overview of how healthcare works. Often, in this country, you get healthcare as a job benefit. This ties working to healthcare, incentivizing work. That is not necessarily a bad thing. Once you have healthcare, you pay into it, which grants you some degree of coverage. Often, if you pay less, you get healthcare that doesn’t cover as much. The more you pay in monthly premiums, the better healthcare you get, and the lower the deductibles and copays that you must pay as well.

At this point, there are also online systems for personal injury claimants. They let you open and then negotiate your claim with your insurance company, should that prove necessary.

What Happens at the Doctor’s Office?

Let’s say you have healthcare. You got it through your job, as a benefit, or else you bought it through the marketplace if you employ yourself. This is the best option available for self-employed individuals. It is what some people still refer to as “Obamacare,” the healthcare exchange that each state set up during Obama’s presidency. It is one of the more enduring parts of his legacy.

If you go to a doctor’s office near you, one of the first things they’re going to ask you about is what kind of healthcare you have. They will ask you the same thing at a hospital emergency room or an urgent care facility. Essentially, these are your best options if you’re having a health-related issue.

If the doctor’s office where you went sees that they are not in your network, they will probably refer you to another doctor who is. This is one of the major annoyances about the system as the country has currently constituted it. If you have no insurance at all, your best option is probably to go to a free clinic. Such clinics do exist, but, unsurprisingly, overcrowding and understaffing occur there.

If You Have More Money, You’ll Get Better Treatment

The reality is that if you get sick or you injure yourself, you can expect better treatment if you’re wealthy. That sounds harsh, but it’s true. If you have more money, you have better options. The current Covid-19 pandemic provides some perfect examples of this. If someone who’s poor contracts Covid-19 and they need hospitalization or medical treatment because they’re symptomatic, they have a lot more options open to them if they have money to throw at the problem. Less money means fewer options, and frequently, less effective treatment.

What’s Your Best Option to Promote Better Health?

Let us say for the moment that the system is not going to change soon since it shows no signs of doing so. That means, without universal healthcare, making as much money as possible ties directly into the quality of care you can receive. Usually, if you find a higher salaried job that comes with better perks, better healthcare will be one of those. This better healthcare will have lower deductibles and copays and gives you the options of more doctors in a broader network that accept your insurance variety.

If you work for yourself rather than a company, making more money is again how you get the best available care. If you make more money doing whatever it is you do, you can afford a better healthcare plan through your state’s marketplace, which again equates to better options through a broader network.

It’s undeniable that if you gain more wealth in America, you can get better healthcare, and better health overall is the probable result. At this moment, figuring out how to make more money is your best option for healthier living. Perhaps someday that might change, but for now, this is the reality.