Protecting the uninsured. Use of state risk-pools. Council on Medical Service.
Society already bears a large part of the costs attributable to the lack of adequate health expense protection for the uninsured, whether through lost manhours and productivity resulting from the postponement of needed medical attention or through defraying the economic burden of uncompensated care. The question, therefore, is not whether such costs should be met, but how they can be met in a way that best maintains and preserves the health of the needy while apportioning this cost equitably over all sectors of the American economy. The Council on Medical Service believes that the establishment of state risk-pools with the modifications suggested in this report, coupled with the other AMA policy initiatives identified at the beginning of this report, will go a long way toward meeting the needs of the uninsured population.
D000574:American Medical Association; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D008489:Medical Indigency; D013219:State Government; D014481:United States