Smith Carroll M
Soc Secur Bull. 1978 Sep;41(9):3-16.
Private health insures collected a record $39.4 billion in premiums and returned $35 billion in benefits to their subscribers in 1976--a reflection of the steadily rising cost of health care, higher utilization, and the demand for expanded services. The industry experienced a net underwriting loss of $611 million, mainly because claims and operating expenses under insurance-company group business ran 3 percent above premium income. About 77 percent of the civilian population had some form of private hospital insurance, and about the same percentage had some form of surgical insurance. Lesser proportions were covered for other types of care. An estimated 12--13 percent of the population under age 65 had no economic protection against the costs of illness or health-related care--under either a private insurance plan or public program. Although virtually all of the aged were covered by Medicare, some 13--15 million bought private insurance, most of it under plans that covered some or all of the gaps in the Federal program.
1976年，私人健康保险公司收取了创纪录的394亿美元保费，并向其订阅者返还了350亿美元的福利——这反映了医疗保健成本的稳步上升、更高的利用率以及对扩大服务的需求。该行业承保净亏损6.11亿美元，主要原因是保险公司集团业务的理赔和运营费用比保费收入高出3%。约77%的平民人口拥有某种形式的私立医院保险，约相同比例的人拥有某种形式的外科手术保险。其他类型护理的覆盖比例较低。估计65岁以下人口中有12%至13%没有针对疾病或与健康相关护理费用的经济保障——无论是通过私人保险计划还是公共项目。尽管几乎所有老年人都参加了医疗保险，但仍有大约1300万至1500万人购买了私人保险，其中大部分是在覆盖联邦计划中部分或全部缺口的计划下购买的。
