45,000 excess deaths annually linked to lack of health insurance: study

[The Sushi Bandit]

Source: American Journal of Public Health

The new study, "Health Insurance and Mortality in U.S. Adults," appears in today's online edition of the American Journal of Public Health.

The Harvard-based researchers found that uninsured, working-age Americans have a 40 percent higher risk of death than their privately insured counterparts, up from a 25 percent excess death rate found in 1993.

Lead author Dr. Andrew Wilper, who worked at Harvard Medical School when the study was done and who now teaches at the University of Washington Medical School, said, "The uninsured have a higher risk of death when compared to the privately insured, even after taking into account socioeconomics, health behaviors and baseline health. We doctors have many new ways to prevent deaths from hypertension, diabetes and heart disease - but only if patients can get into our offices and afford their medications."

The study, which analyzed data from national surveys carried out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), assessed death rates after taking education, income and many other factors including smoking, drinking and obesity into account. It estimated that lack of health insurance causes 44,789 excess deaths annually.



Read more: http://www.physorg.com/news172424058.html

[area51]

1. 100,000 dead per year

in this country due to lack of healthcare. Yet our govt. doesn't question spending money hand over fist to fight wars of choice, so people at home can be free ... to die.

[New Dawn]

18. K&R

[izquierdista]

2. How many of those deaths

are caused by teabagging?

[kestrel91316]

3. They are only the Little People, so who cares? Yawn.

[Mari333]

4. US lack of healthcare=Death Panels.

[L0oniX]

40. Health insurance companies = death panels

[Mithreal]

5. Collateral damage, we have the best health care system in the world. nt

[Uncle Joe]

6. So every 15 months the current Soylent Green inspired for profit

"health" coverage systems kills as many Americans as we lost during the entire Vietnam War.

Thanks for the thread, The Sushi Bandit.

[Arugula Latte]

7. So more than fifteen 9-11s every year.

Funny, the 'pukes are just fine with that if it's the corporations doing the slaughter.

[Qutzupalotl]

43. Just don't make an ad depicting that angle

or you'll be the Worst Person in the WORRRLLLDDDD.

[Soylent Brice]

8. K&R

[mbperrin]

9. Yeah, but were any of them fetuses? THEN we might get the righties

interested!

[aquart]

10. bin Ladin is a mere piker. This is real terrorism.

Americans live in terror of being ill. The stress alone from begging the insurance companies to save our lives is killing us.

It's murder for profit and we are full of fear.

[dflprincess]

11. It would be interesting to know how many premature deaths are the result of being under insured

It isn't the lack of health insurance that kills, it is the inability to access care. Many many who have insurance, but have high out of pockets, aren't a whole lot better off than those who are uninsured.

[FarCenter]

12. Med Mistakes Blamed in 200K Deaths a Year

So is it better to have health insurance or not?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/10/earlyshow/health/main5229458.shtml

(CBS) An investigation by the Hearst Corporation says an estimated 200 thousand Americans will die this year from preventable medical errors and hospital infections.

Heart dubbed its report, "Dead by Mistake."

The report also says 20 states have no medical error reporting system in place, five have voluntary ones, and five more are developing reporting systems.

What's more, says the report, in the 20 states that make medical error reporting mandatory, hospitals report only a tiny percentage of their mistakes, standards vary wildly, and enforcement is often nonexistent.

Heart also blames special interests for blocking progress in this area, noting that, "Ten years ago, the highly-publicized federal report, 'To Err Is Human,' highlighted the alarming death toll from preventable medical injuries and called on the medical community to cut it in half in five years. Its authors and patient safety advocates believed that its release would spur a revolution in patient safety.

"But Hearst's 'Dead By Mistake' reveals that the federal government and most states have made little or no progress in improving patient safety through accountability mechanisms or other measures. According to the Hearst investigation, special interests worked to ensure that the key recommendations in the report -- most notably a mandatory national reporting system for medical errors -- were never implemented."

<SNIP>

[Rozlee]

13. The Republicans know how to use fear as a weapon

Why do I belong to such a sac-less party that can't take a page from their book? We have all the facts at our finger tips: insurance rescissions, over 400% rate increases in seven years, 39% rate increase coming down the pike now, dropping policy holders for minor pre-existing conditions or none, thousands of heartbreaking stories to pummel the people with, including spousal abuse as a pre-existing condition, and now this! These aren't even made up stories like Palin's fuckin' Death Panels or the damned Death Book at the VA that I've never seen and I have appointments there about twice a month for the last five damn years! They have propaganda and we have facts. Why do I have to belong to a pussy party? Oh, why, why, why? Oh, yeah. Cause the other party are Fascist wannabees. This is getting so disheartening.

[sabrina 1]

41. I know, I ask that question all the time

Even without this new study, the numbers were already huge, around 22,000 a year. That's over a quarter a million unnecessary deaths a year since 9/11 making lack of healthcare more lethal to Americans than terrorism.

Where are the scary ads from the 'left' with these facts? And I'm sure there are many ordinary Republicans who have family members or friends who've been in situations where they did not go to the hospital because they had no insurance, I know I have.

The Dems remind me of people who have weapons in their hands with which they could easily defend themselves, but when attacked, drop them on the ground or hand them over without even being asked.

I don't know if this is because they do not know how to present their case, or because they do not want to. But I agree, it is increasingly frustrating to watch them refuse to use the facts they have at their disposal over and over again.

[dr_aswan]

14. 440,000 deaths per year are attributed to smoking... sad but true

[LynnTheDem]

20. Ahhh...so that makes the 100,000/year deaths from lack of healthcare ok then.

I understand.

[Skittles]

42. what does that have to do with the subejct at hand?

I bet you're the kind of idiot who compares war deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan to fatal car accidents in America :thumbsdown:

[Fridays Child]

15. k/r

[snake in the grass]

16. saved for later

[2Design]

17. AND they SAY they are pro LIFE - ha - BS n/t

[LynnTheDem]

19. Those 100,000/year Americans weren't worth it, anyways.

Right, rightwingnuts? "Fuck em"; isn't that the American Anthem?


OH MY GAWD OBAMA IS AN EVIL SOCIALIST FASCIST COMMUNIST INDONESIAN DEVIL COZ HE WANTS HEALTHCARE FOR EVERY AMERICAN OH NOES!!!!11!

[ScottLand]

21. If it were 10,000 or 5,000, it's still a pathetic truth

for a country that aspires to be a World Power! If this were a third world nation, we would be there offering to help.

[sofa king]

22. That's in the same order of magnitude as drunk driving deaths.

Or, for that matter, firearm fatalities.

[kpete]

23. (Harvard) Study finds lack of insurance can be lethal

Source: Boston Globe

Study finds lack of insurance can be lethal
By Elizabeth Cooney


As medical care has improved for people with health insurance, the consequences of being uninsured have worsened, according to a new study that says the lack of coverage translates into nearly 45,000 deaths each year among working-age Americans.

Researchers from Cambridge Health Alliance reported yesterday in the American Journal of Public Health on a study that followed 9,005 adults under 65 years old who took part in a national survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1986 through 1994. After 12 years, 351 people had died. Sixty of them were uninsured, and 291 were insured.

After accounting for differences in age, education, income, and other factors, the researchers found that people without private insurance had a 40 percent higher risk of dying than people with private insurance.

An earlier study by the Institute of Medicine based on 16 years of data through 1993 found that uninsured people had a 25 percent higher risk of dying than insured people, which translated into 18,000 additional deaths.

Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/09/18/study_finds_lack_of_insurance_can_be_lethal/

[Zoeisright]

24. I'm not surprised the number has jumped so much since the earlier study.

I'm surprised it's not higher.

[shadowknows69]

25. Nice of Harvard to join the real world.

Try not having it for about 20 years and see what kind of shape you're in. You could ask a bunch of my friends if they weren't in the ground already.

[Skittles]

26. (Skittles) Study finds that clouds and thunder can mean rain

yes INDEED

[Odin2005]

27. News just in: WATER IS WET!

[L0oniX]

35. My study indicates that water can cause death.

[HughBeaumont]

37. LINCOLN SHOT!

TITANIC SINKS!

:rofl:

[Hugin]

28. I really have to differ with the whole premise of this study...

It's MEDICAL ATTENTION that makes the difference.

You could have the best insurance in the world and if you didn't receive MEDICAL ATTENTION you'd die. That's the POINT!

For the first time in my life... I'm going to say it. Exactly how much money was wasted on this inane study? :eyes:

[TreasonousBastard]

29. Steffi Woolhandler was in on this, again, and...

her group has single payer on the top spot in their agenda.

They never talk about access to healthcare, or the costs of its delivery, just about insurance.

Insurance to pay for high-priced fee-for-service healthcare, btw, not inexpensive neighborhood clinics.

[Hugin]

33. A little thought experiment could clear this all up... imho.

Say, You're (Not you specifically, TB) having chest pains... Who are you going to call first?

A Health Care Professional or your Insurance Agent?

This is all about compensation... AFTER treatment... How are the people and institutions who provided expertise and supplies needed during care, COMPENSATED.

There is no intrinsic link between the insurance industry and medical assistance (although, it's in the Insurance Industries' best conflict-of-interest to maintain the illusion that there is) Other, than health insurance is the currently corrupt system used to compensate for expenses (at those companies whim... I might add).

Imagine a world without insurance, we'd still need medical services and other countries have found better and cheaper ways to compensate health care providers.

I wonder if Steven Hawking has health insurance? I doubt it. But, he does get health care.

[Beavker]

30. It is sort of stating the obvious, but to some...it's not that obvious.

We need anyone and everyone that has ANY clout at all to run studies and back up all other studies and ram this down peoples throats. Those holdouts who things all is fine need to be overwhelmed with this stuff. Bombarded. Then only then maybe it will sink in.

[MineralMan]

31. What? Are they issuing Master of the Obvious degrees now?

How dare you question me? I have an M.O. from Hahvahd.

[L0oniX]

36. LOL

[durablend]

32. No doubt making the right and the DINO$$$$ happy

"Hey, the plan is working!"

[L0oniX]

34. Gee ...it took a Harvard study to figure that out for us? DOH! A grade school student ...

could figure that out. Here's another study of my own ...lack of food causes death.

[Indigent]

38. this, not ACORN, should be top story in the media n/t

[Indigent]

39. Can the Boston Globe tell it like it is? The study found lack of insurance IS lethal. Not "can be"

Idiots. Our media sucks.