PHI 101: Why Comprehensive Health Insurance Matters

• Provides Affordable Access to Health Care

  • Early detection and prevention
  • Necessary health services
  • Institute for Medicine found 18,000 Americans die each year because they do not have health insurance.

• Protects from Financial Risk

  • Half of all bankruptcies are related to health care costs; in most cases borne by people who have inadequate insurance coverage.

• Security—if your insurance is comprehensive, it should cover the services you may need at a price you can afford

Health care costs are soaring. Even important preventive care like mammograms and colonoscopies can cost a lot. And, if you end up being hit by a car, slipping and falling playing a sport or getting diagnosed with asthma, diabetes or breast cancer, your health care costs can go through the roof.

Odds are you won’t need very costly care any given year. Ten percent of Americans consume 64% of all health care costs. But, we are all at risk of needing costly health care services, and health insurance should ensure our financial and health security so we do not have to gamble with our own or our families’ health.