Assignment:
Effects Caused By Losing divorced Women Health Insurance In America and
1-According to a University of Michigan study that 115,000 American women lose private health insurance annually in the months following divorce and that roughly 65,000 of these women become uninsured. The loss of insurance coverage we observe is not just a short-term disruption. Women's rates of insurance coverage remain depressed for more than two years after divorce. Insurance loss may compound the economic losses women experience after divorce, and contribute to as well as compound previously documented health declines following divorce.
2-Social scientists have accumulated a large body of evidence showing that married individuals tend to have better health than their never married and previously married counterparts.
3-Marriage is associated with lower mortality rates, better self-rated health, and lower prevalence of specific conditions such as heart disease.
4-One factor contributing to these marital health disparities is selection: healthier people are more likely to get and stay married.
5-But several studies have also found that health may deteriorate, at least temporarily, following marital disruption
6-The two primary pathways through which marital disruption is thought to impact health are stress and the loss of health-enhancing resources
7-Loss of health insurance coverage may help to account for the health declines that some individuals experience following marital disruption. Health insurance coverage is a resource more available within than outside of marriage, especially for women, and arguably one which is health-enhancing
8-It facilitates access to medical care, which may in turn promote healthy behaviors (e.g., medical professionals may encourage exercise or discourage smoking). Losing health insurance may also induce additional stress during the process of marital disruption. Its loss signifies a loss of financial protection during a period of already heightened financial vulnerability, especially for women. Past research finds that uninsured women frequently worry about getting sick, and about whether they will be able to see a doctor, afford medications or pay their medical bills if they do
9-The loss of economic resources after divorce experienced by many women is predicated on their poorer compensation in the labor market relative to men and their continued
10-economic dependence within marriage These factors may similarly jeopardize women's health insurance coverage in the event of marital disruption.
11-One-quarter of women in the U.S. younger than 65 receive dependent health insurance coverage through the benefits package of a spouse or other family member, substantially higher than the dependent coverage rate for men.
12-Part of this differential comes from married women's lower rates of labor force participation. Another part is because women tend to work in jobs and occupations with poorer fringe benefits than their husbands.
13-Women also frequently decline health insurance coverage through their own employers and instead elect coverage through a husband's employer, presumably because they assess this coverage to be more comprehensive or a better value.
14-Women may lose health insurance after marital disruption both directly through the loss of dependent coverage or indirectly through their inability to access or afford other forms of coverage. The federal COBRA law grants former spouses the option to temporarily purchase an extension of dependent coverage for up to 36 months, but premiums are high (nearly $500 per month for individual coverage in 2011).
15-Financial hardship may hinder women's ability to maintain uninterrupted insurance coverage, making it difficult to purchase COBRA or to continue paying premiums for coverage through their own employers or for private market policies. But despite women's substantial economic losses following divorce, few become eligible for public coverage. As of 2012, Medicaid, the state-run health insurance program for low-income people, was limited to parents with incomes (often substantially) below the poverty line in two-thirds of states, and was available to low-income childless adults in only nine states.
16-Medicare, the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, is rarely available because most divorces occur before retirement age and few meet stringent disability standards. Like the loss of economic and other health-enhancing resources after divorce, the loss of health insurance may harm women's health. Compared to those with coverage, uninsured adults experience significantly worse health outcomes and die at younger ages.
17-Health insurance loss is also associated with subsequent declines in health.
18-Health insurance may also encourage healthy behaviors. Employer-based health plans are increasingly tied to wellness programs that encourage participants to quit smoking, exercise and lose weight Losing health insurance may also eliminate the monitoring of one's health by medical professionals, making it less likely that one will take timely steps, for example, to change diet and exercise in response to high blood pressure.
19-The second major reason posited to explain why health may decline in the wake of divorce is that the stress of marital disruption depletes both psychological and physical health. Becoming uninsured after divorce may compound the other stresses of the divorce process, potentially further damaging health. For those experiencing financial hardship and medical issues simultaneously, losing insurance coverage after divorce may initiate the need to make stressful tradeoffs such as either paying rent or complying with a doctor's orders for medication or treatment.
20-Whether or not one needs immediate access to medical services, health insurance may enhance well-being by providing an increased sense of security. It reassures that one will have access to medical services should the need arise, and that in that event, one will be financially protected. Uninsured Americans have high levels of financial stress and many carry medical debt, which itself is strongly associated with stress.
21-A recent ethnographic study of uninsured women illustrates how the stress of being uninsured can harm women's health.