2009 Paying for Hospital Care
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Why is this important?
Health care costs are a major factor in almost every household budget. Costs associated with a single hospital stay may quickly wipe out savings and move people into debt. Thus, having some reliable and comfortable way of covering major medical costs is an important element in preserving our quality of life.
How are we doing?
For the period between 2004 and 2006, about 14% of adults on Long Island did not have any health care coverage at all compared to 16% for New York State as a whole. During that same period, about 4% of adult residents of Long Island report that they did not receive health care treatment because they could not afford it (compared to 7.5% for the state as a whole).
When looking at hospitalizations, the combination of Medicare (46%) and commercial insurance/HMO plans (37%) continues to provide health care coverage for most adults on Long Island. With respect to pediatric hospitalizations, 64% were covered by commercial insurance/HMO plans, and 28% were covered by Medicaid.