HEARING - U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging

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insurance premiums and medical care. Yet Medicaid for the poor
is considered a handout, while employer-provided health
insurance is a perfectly acceptable fringe benefit of employment.
III. THE REPORT'S CONSIDERATION OF THE UNDER 65-YEAR-OLD
POPULATION IS INADEQUATE.
Catastrophic Illness Expenses does not do justice to the
growing and severe problem of the lack of insurance for the
under 65-year-old population. This problem is worthy of a study
of its own. The Report recommends an array of options to
address the catastrophic illr.ess expenses of the general
population -- but the significance is illusory. The Report
merely reco-rends that states adopt certain measures. No
recommendation for federal assistance to the states or federal
incentives is suggested. It is unlikely that the
recommendations will lead to any real improvement in the under
65-year-old population's access to catastrophic health
insurance. A few specific comments:
(A) Catastrophic vs. Non-catastrophic Coverage. The
distinction between catastrophic and non-catastrophic coverage
needs is not always precise. For low-income families, a mild
but chronic health condition can pose catastrophic expenses.
Even for a moderate income family, chronic conditions that
require treatment year after year can impose a great financial
burden yet fail to qualify as "catastrophic" under
policy-makers' criteria.