Helping uninsured workers find cost-efficient health-care coverage is more than a human-resources olive branch, it's good business sense. According to a white paper from the HR Policy Association titled "Leadership Action Plan on the Uninsured: A Strategy For Achieving Lasting Health Care Market Reform," the economic impact of 44 million uninsured Americans may be as high as $152 billion per year in lost productivity, turnover and absenteeism costs. Indeed, a recent study by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences found that the impact of uninsured Americans costs the U.S. from $65 billion to $130 billion a year in lost earnings and output from absenteeism, chronic poor health, disability and early mortality.
