Health Insurance for Uninsured Americans Survey

Health insurance is a major concern for many Americans.  When your kid or spouse is sick or injured your primary worry is how to make them better, how you’ll pay for it is a secondary concern.

The movie John Q tells a fictional tale of how a parent might respond when insurance won’t cover a medical procedure needed to save their child’s life. I think the combination of physical, emotional, and financial pain of injury or sickness is what makes health care insurance such a daunting one for the country to resolve. 

Health Insurance Survey

eHealthInsurance, an online health insurance marketplace, did a survey of people who called in with questions about individual and family health insurance policies.  They found that 38.8% of the people that called in with questions were uninsured at the time of the call.  I always hear talk during political campaigns about uninsured Americans but I don’t typically hear statistics so I thought the findings of their survey were interesting.  Of the uninsured callers:

• 37.9% are between the ages of 18 and 34
• 51.5% are employed full-time
• 60.5% work for a small or medium-sized business ( < 500 employees)

The survey found that the average uninsured person researching and buying individual health insurance through the eHealthInsurance marketplace was a single woman between the ages of 25 and 44, with a college degree and a full-time job.

The also found that one third (33%) work for a small business and a little under one half (46%) earn between $30,000 and $75,000 per year.

This wasn’t a comprehensive survey of the population so it’s just a segment of citizens but I was surprised at the number of people with full time employment that are uninsured.  Of course, these were all people calling in to research health insurance, I’m sure the numbers would be much different for the people that don’t even bother calling about insurance since they know they can’t afford it.

Ben Edwards, the founder of Money Smart Life, saved up enough to buy a Nintendo back when he was 12 years old. When he used the money to buy shares of Wal-Mart stock instead, he knew he wasn't like the other kids... His addiction to personal finance has paid off for his family and now he's helping you to afford the life that you want. Check him out on the web at Google Plus, Twitter and Facebook.

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