Inpatient admission of the poor for healthcare in the United States

Were poor people as salutary as the rest of those living in America, there would likely be a slight decline in inpatient admission. This writer believes that the decline would not exceed 15 percent of the current inpatient admission for this population, which is approximately 17 percent. Therefore, the decline would only be approximately 3 percent. Quite obviously, this figure of 3 percent is engedered by multiplying the 15 percent by the percentage of the current population, which is in fact 17 percent. That figures equals .0255; when rounding up, it is approximately three percent. As such, there are numerous considerations which, when properly applied to the foregoing scenario, reinforce the fact that the decline in inpatient admission percentage would not be excessive. Perhaps the most cogent of these, and the ones to which the other considerations inextricably relate, pertains to the fact that poor people simply cannot afford healthcare and thus do not greatly impact inpatient admission whether salubrious or otherwise.

The reality of the situation is that indigent people are less likely to maintain their health than are those who are indigent (Health Poverty Action, 2017). However, the ramifications of this statement buttress the preceding thesis. Since most poor people might eventually incur health problems, they tend to not utilize healthcare services because they cannot afford them. This fact means that even with poor people not as healthy as those who are in more advantageous financial situations are, they are still not affecting the inpatient admission percentage because they do not have the funds to pay for health services. Therefore, if they were suddenly not suffering from any variety of healthcare conditions, they still would not use those healthcare services because they cannot afford them (nor would they need them). The difference in the percentages of these two situations is negligible.

In fact, the primary way in which the 3 percent change in inpatient admission would occur is related to emergency room treatment. Those who are truly destitute rarely access any form of healthcare services other than emergency treatment, because all of the financial haggling accompanying those services comes after they are rendered. There are no upfront charges or co-payments for rides in ambulances and prioritized triage for immediate services. Thus, what often ends up happening is that these people are left with a sizable bill which they cannot—and therefore do not—remit so that the medical facilities, and by extension the tax payers, are left to pay the costs (O'Shea, 2007). The premise is that if the impoverished were as healthy as their wealthier counterparts, they would not need those services. Again, the approximation of the percentage difference caused by the utilization of emergency room treatment will not surpass 3 percent. This projection is based on the fact that those in penury could be perfectly healthy and still require emergency room treatment from issues pertaining to drugs, crime, and other social ills pertaining to economics.

Another example which supports the notion that there would only be a slight decline in inpatient admission if the poor were as healthy as those who are not poor is found in the Patient and Affordable Care Act. Due to governmental subsidies (as well as revenues from penalties associated with this act in which everyone was mandated to have health insurance) (Fernandez, 2014), healthcare was suddenly accessible to all—including those who were poor. However, in the wake of this act the insurance premiums tripled in some instances, resulting in situations in which those who were poor or even of the lower middle class still could not afford care. Regardless of government assistance those premiums sharply increase each year, oftentimes whether or not one actually even utilized those services. Thus, there are several areas in which the lack of funding characteristic of a destitute person would dissuade them from accessing the health care services the Patient and Affordable Care Act granted. There are co-payments (which could be as high as $50, if not more, in several instances), medication costs, and rising premiums. Even with this act which was specifically designed to empower the indigent, health care is still not affordable. Poor people and those of the lower social class are well aware of this fact, and would not attempt to put themselves into further debt by taking on economic responsibilities for which they are not prepared. So, even if healthcare is accessible to the poor, they still will (or perhaps can) not utilize them. Therefore, even if they were as healthy as the rest of America was, there would only be a slight difference in their impact on inpatient admission rates.

Overall, the percentage decline in inpatient admission attributed to an idealized scenario in which the impoverished were as healthy as their wealthier counterparts would have a minimal effect on inpatient admission. The reason so is that poor people are simply not enough of a factor in inpatient admission because they cannot afford healthcare services. The current healthcare legislation has not changed this fact. Even if they were healthy, this basic reality that they cannot afford health care would not change. Poor people mostly correlate to inpatient admission via emergency room treatment. As the previous analysis of the impact of social disorders indicates, even if they were healthy those disorders would likely still contribute to their requirement of such services.

References

Fernandez, B. (2014). Health insurance premium credits in the Patient and Affordable Care Act. https://fas.org/ Retrieved from https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41137.pdf

Health Poverty Action. (2017). Key facts: poverty and poor health. https://www.healthpovertyaction.org/ Retrieved from https://www.healthpovertyaction.org/info-and-resources/the-cycle-of-poverty-and-poor-health/key-facts/

O'Shea, J. (2007). The crisis in hospital emergency departments: Overcoming the burden of federal regulation. www.heritage.org Retrieved from https://www.heritage.org/health-care-reform/report/the-crisis-hospital-emergency-departments-overcoming-the-burden-federal