Health Insurance There are many good reasons to have health insurance, and among those reasons is the fact that there is a tremendous financial risk that is linked to "unanticipated adverse health events," according to an article in the Journal of Health Economics (McLaughlin, et al., 2002). Health insurance not only helps the person that is ill or has been in an accident to get healthy again, it prevents -- at least in many cases it prevents -- financial calamity. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has come out with a report that shows most families that cannot afford health insurance do not have the "financial assets to pay the hospital bills they would incur if a family member were to be hospitalized" (Glied, 2011, p. 1). In fact the HHS report reflects the fact that the majority of uninsured families have "virtually no savings or investments" so this puts a family of modest means or a low-income family in dire straights if one of their family members requires emergency hospitalization. That HHS report indicates that the average financial assets that an uninsured family has is just $20.00 (Glied, p. 1).

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The HHS research shows that people are 50-percent more likely to be involved...

All the more reason why a family should try to get health insurance. Of course a person could be seriously injured or killed in an auto accident, so in that instance the comparison doesn't work as well. But the report also points out that while a person is "ten times" more likely to wind up in the hospital than to have his or her house on fire, the bill for one hospitalization is nearly the same as the loss from a house fire, Glied explains. The other problem with people who are not insured, and who need hospitalization from an accident or illness, is that "other payers must absorb the cost," which ultimately leads to higher costs for Americans with insurance.
For those that do not have insurance but who need hospital care, additional research presented by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shows that "uncompensated care costs estimates" add up to something in the range of $56 to $73 billion dollars. In other words, that money not paid by the individuals being hospitalized has to be paid…