Disadvantages Of Private Health Insurance In The United States

within national guidelines and negotiate with private and public health care providers to determine eligibility (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2012). Most Americans purchase health insurance from private insurance companies, usually through their employer (Commonwealth Fund, 2010). Private health insurance is regulated differently in every state, making generalizations about the U.S. private health insurance market as a whole difficult (Commonwealth Fund, 2010). Overall, the provision of health care in the United States is a largely private, decentralized affair, with most health care providers falling under private ownership and no significant federal presence. Practices and hospitals are mostly private, but some local and state governments fund publically-owned hospitals and public practices (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2012). …show more content…
One disadvantage is that there are limitations as to the type of treatments covered by Medicaid. The program evaluates each treatment plan and may not cover a particular procedure that is deemed unnecessary, causing problems for the physician and ultimately affecting the health of a patient (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services,2012). Refusal of coverage of expenses for the procedure will leave the patient and his or her doctor with little to no choice. In addition, Medicare is not designed to cover every possible need, and it has some out-of-pocket costs, such as prescription drugs under Original Medicar, and in many Parts of the program, separate deductibles, coinsurance, or out-of-pocket costs (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services,2012). Thus, people still need to purchase private insurance to help fill gaps in