AIDS & Problems for Society

AIDS poses a number of difficult social questions and raises a number of social, medical, and legal problems for society. Health insurance is a major issue in America today, and health insurance as it relates to AIDS poses several particularly difficult questions both for the industry and for society. These questions relate not only to health matters as such but to concerns over privacy, protection, discrimination, and the social costs of this fatal disorder. This crisis comes at a time when the insurance industry is facing a number of major consumer issues and a poor public image, and the AIDS problem is adding to these issues and in some ways preventing the industry from reviving its image and achieving more positive trends.

Insurance companies have been facing an inflationary spiral and the problems of the recession, as have other businesses. A drop in interest rates also harmed the industry as companies selling property and liability insurance found themselves forced to increase premiums and eliminate writing certain classes of business, product liability, and pollution liability insurance. Increasingly liberal court interpretations increased liability judgments. The AIDS crisis has posed even more challenges as American consumers have been finding it more and more difficult to purchase adequate, affordable life and health insurance without giving away much of their privacy. Insurers now have to contend with the impact of AIDS on

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reason given for this was the fact that the industry had won its battle to make testing for HIV part of the underwriting process. The insurance industry was also spending money on education, prevention, and research into AIDS, and by the end of 1991 the industry had spent some $34 million on such programs (pp. 59-62). Mulcahy (1991) notes that AIDS has become a legal, ethical, and public relations problem for employers seeking to cap the costs of their self-insured health plans. By making this attempt, these companies are testing vague federal statutes and forcing court cases on the issues involved. Employers risk an explosive political and social reaction if their AIDS restrictions become common knowledge, and it has been suggested that companies follow through with case management, managed care, and home health care approaches as a way of controlling AIDS claims costs instead of trying to limit AIDS benefits. Instead, they should be proactive, develop responsible corporate policy, and educate both employees and supervisors (pp. 17, 51). Alpaugh (1991) cites a survey of 585 insurers on the total numbers and dollar amounts of AIDS-related claims paid on a by-state and by-line basis. The survey showed that nearly all medium

Category: Medical - A