During the period from 2004 to 2007, eighty-nine million Americans were found without any health insurance for at least one month, and 23 million lost the insurance coverage more than once during that time, according to a recent study made by researchers at Penn State and Harvard University.
For their research, the researchers used data obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation, which collects all the information from the same persons every four months over a four-year period. The team studied the various changes that occurred in insurance coverage from the year 2004 to 2007, among people in the age group 4 to 64.
Dr. Pamela Farley Short, professor of Health Policy and Administration and Director of the Center for Health Care and Policy Research, The Pennsylvania State University said in a statement that “these findings call attention to the continuing instability and insecurity of health insurance in our country. With more than a third of all Americans under age 65 being uninsured at some point in a four-year period, it’s easy to see that the problem of being uninsured is a big one that affects lots of people.”
In this study, the researchers also found that out of the 89 million people who were uninsured during the period 2004 to 2007, 12 million were continually uninsured; 11 million had coverage only at some point of time during these years. 11.5 million lost coverage during this time, another 14 million people experienced a single breach in coverage; and 6 million had only a temporary time period of coverage. In addition to this there were 23 million people who lost their health insurance more than once during the four-year period of time.
Ineligibility of patients has been identified as a major reason for claim denials and delays. Medical practitioners who fail to complete the insurance eligibility verification of their patients on time stand to lose a considerable amount of money. Outsourcing to the right service provider can ensure quicker insurance verification and premium payments in time, and help avoid unnecessary expenses in terms of time and money.
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