Health care reform bill could aid 237,000 Utahns

SALT LAKE CITY — Dulsi Beaslin, a local entrepreneur who, with her husband, owns two businesses but has no chance of getting health insurance, would be among the estimated 237,000 Utahns to find a plan if the health care reform bill now in the U.S. Senate is passed.

Beaslin's asthma, which makes her uninsurable now at almost any price, could no longer be used as by insurers as a pre-existing condition to exclude her. Beaslin believes reform is badly needed "so entrepreneurial families like mine can get insurance and aren't left with just praying no one gets sick."

According to a report issued Wednesday by the health care consumer advocacy group Families USA, if the bill fails, Beaslin would remain in the ranks of uninsured Utahns, which would top 413,000 by 2019, an increase of 61,000 over the number without coverage today.

Under the 2,070-page Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which senators could vote on before Congress takes its Christmas break, every state gains substantial numbers of people who would have coverage, according to Families USA. Nationally, 31 million people would gain coverage if the bill is approved. If it isn't, 8 million more people or a total of 54 million would be without coverage come 2019.

"Under our current system, millions of Americans with health problems, even common conditions such as diabetes and asthma, are unable to buy health coverage on their own," said Families USA executive director Ron Pollack. "Or, if they are offered coverage, the premiums can be so high that they are unaffordable."

Adding millions more to insurance plans will increase the overall cost of care, mainly because when people get coverage they tend to go to the doctor, Pollack said.

But the savings of doing so far outweigh initial costs, he said. Having insurance means going to the doctor when a problem first arises, which would add peace of mind and financial stability to the family and to the country. Overuse of expensive emergency room services when a problem could have been caught early or prevented adds tremendously to health care costs for everyone, he said.

The bill would also save millions of dollars by doing away with uncompensated care — care provided to people without insurance and who end up paying only a portion of their care. Under the current system, the unpaid portion is shifted through higher premiums to those who have private insurance.

Pollack said under the bill, this "hidden health tax" that added about $1,200 to Utah families' premiums in 2008, would go away and in turn slow the annual double-digit percentage increases in premium prices around the country.