Government and Private Insurance

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Institution

Government and Private Insurance

Insurance plans are designed to provide financial assistance to citizens mainly through medical benefits. Although some of the insurance programs may not comprehensively cover the citizens the financial benefits they accrue to the people can be downplayed. In the state of Virginia there are various private and social insurance programs designed for the state’s residents based on their demographic, economic and social status. The private and social insurance programs in the state of Virginia include social security disability benefits, workers compensation, veteran benefits, retirement benefits, unemployment insurance and military cover.

Application of social insurance to consumers varies depending on consumers characteristics. For a child of parents who do not have private health insurance, the state government provides health care coverage provided the child is below the age of 21 years (Families USA Organization, 2012). However, there are still a large number of uninsured children in the state. According to Healthcare for All Virginians (n.d.) 68% of the children in the state are insured through private health insurance, 8% through military coverage and the state government covers about 18% through FAMIS (Family Access to Medical Insurance Security). An elderly WWII veteran with diabetes in this state are covered through Veteran Association whose cover take care of various health conductions including diabetes (Military Handbooks, 2008). The jobless such as a bank teller who has just been laid off and a college student who has just graduated without a guaranteed employment are covered through unemployment insurance. The unemployment insurance provides financial support for people who are jobless due to circumstances out of their control, thus the laid off banker and new graduate qualify (Benefits.gov, n.d.). Finally, a homeless person can also access social care through homeless person cover services. These services target at enhancing the homeless people’s living conditions, diet and healthcare (Perl, 2012; Stand, 2012).

There is no gap in insurance cover in the state. Almost all people are covered either in one or more categories. However, the covered is not totally perfect and many people from almost all categories and ages miss out for one or more reasons, the greatest reason being accessibility. For instance, children of parents who do not have private health insurance miss out due to accessibility factors.

I believe that the government has a responsibility to provide health insurance to these individuals/consumers since they are needy and unable to take care for themselves medically. The government should assume responsibility a provide healthcare for low income earners e.g. parents and their dependants, and people with disability (DeParle, 2000). The individual above are all low income earners and, therefore, meet the criteria for Medicare support from the government.

References

Benefits.gov. (n.d.). Virginia Unemployment Insurance. Retrieved from http://www.benefits.gov/benefits/benefit-details/1825

DeParle, N. (2000). Celebrating 35 Years of Medicare and Medicaid. Health Care Financing Review. 22(1): 1-7.

Families USA Organization. (2012). Covering Services for Children with Special Needs Under Medicaid, The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and Private Insurance. Retrieved from http://www.familiesusa.org/issues/medicaid/making-it-work-for-consumers/covering-services-children.html

Healthcare for All Virginians. (n.d.). Health Insurance Coverage: A Virginia Scorecard. Retrieved from http://www.msv.org/DocumentVault/PDFs/Health-insurance-coverage-A-Virginia-Scorecard-PDF.aspx

Military Handbooks. (2008). 2008 Benefits for Veterans & Dependents Handbook. Arlington: Military Handbooks.

Perl, L. (2012). Veterans and Homelessness. Congressional Research Service

Stand, L. (2012). The ACA Can Help Us End Chronic Homelessness. Retrieved from http://blog.endhomelessness.org/category/mental-physical-health/health-care-reform/