Current Alaska insurance issues as of February 2010Alaska insurance affordability and availability issues face a uniquely topical political influence in February 2010. Given the popularity of one of its former governors with the Tea Party crowd, it should be interesting to discuss what this state's overall philosophy is towards health care. What should carry the discussion is the difficulty in getting health coverage if you are an Alaskan. Less than one quarter of the small businesses in Alaska can provide coverage for their employees. Health care expenditures have also tripled in this state from 1991 to 2005 and are expected to double again by 2013. An additional difficulty that older Alaskans face is finding doctors who accept Medicare. According to a recently study, approximately 100,000 Alaskans don't have health insurance and most of these people work and 100 million dollars in health care expenses went unpaid. Despite these facts, an effort to pass Massachusetts-style health care bill in 2007-2008 was unsuccessful. All this makes it somewhat ironic that Alaskans are satisfied with their health care and are against health care reform, according to a 2010 poll. You have to wonder how objective the poll was or if they polled some of Alaska's native mammals, the lemmings.
Do you have a different opinion of health coverage in this state?Health coverage policies and laws obviously can change. If your experience with getting health coverage is different than what is written above, or if you just want to share your experiences with health coverage, please feel free. |