This study examines the current spending on care for the uninsured and projects additional medical spending if the population had health insurance coverage.

The study finds that the uninsured will spend $30 billion out-of-pocket for health care in 2008 while receiving $56 billion in uncompensated care, three quarters of which will be from government sources.

The study is an update of a previous Kaiser study and also projects the additional cost to the nation’s health care system if all the uninsured were covered by insurance. If everyone were covered, overall costs would increase by $123 billion dollars, or an additional five percent of national health spending. The analysis does not assess how much a universal coverage plan would cost the government, which would vary depending on the details of the approach.

 Health Affairs article: Full Text | Abstract (free access)

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