A new report predicts trouble for rural Idahoans if efforts to reform health care fail. Research from the Center for Rural Affairs shows that, if congress does nothing to change the current system, rural residents could face increasingly serious financial and health consequences.
Jon Bailey, the Center's rural research and analysis program director,says the research predicts that, absent reform, more Idahoans in small towns would be uninsured, premium and out-of-pocket costs would nearly double, health care costs to both tax payers and the insured would increase, as would the amount of uninsured costs written of by providers.
"without reform, about a third of people in those communities will be without health insurance. That has significant consequences for their ability to get diagnosed and their ability to get treatment."
Reform measures would make available to rural residence insurance at a better price and would offer more coverage than what they can buy on the private market now, says Bailey. He adds the cost controls being debated are good.
"It means that , in the event of significant illness or injury, families would not be subject to potential bankruptcy. They wouldn't be subject to losing their business, their farm, or their ranch."
The report also estimates the benefits if the reform bill in the senate becomes law, including shielding a typical rural family from up to $16, 000 a year in extra health care costs. In addition to better prices for insurance in rural areas, Bailey says money will also help to expand care options and quality. Reform currently being debated has strong opposition from those who say more needs to be done to control health care costs. Visit www.cfraorg/10/cant-wait.
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