The "Best Health Care System in the World" ... (hey , it only kills 45,000 a year)

Lack of health insurance kills 45,000 Americans annually: Report
Eric Wahlgren

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/09/18/lack-of-health-insurance-kills-45-000-americans-annually-report/
Sep 18th 2009 at 2:20PM

Here's a statistic bound to stiffen the resolve of health care reformers: The number of yearly U.S. deaths linked to lack of health insurance is now thought to be nearly 45,000 -- about 2.5 times more than previous estimates seven years ago. That means one person dies every 12 minutes. Why the jump? The study in the American Journal of Public Health points to an increase in the number of uninsured -- at least 46 million today -- and a fraying medical safety net.

The Harvard University-based researchers say uninsured, working-age Americans have a 40 percent higher risk of death than their privately insured counterparts. In 1993, that number was just 25 percent. "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," says lead author Andrew Wilper, who worked at Harvard Medical School when the study was done. "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."

With health insurance premiums rising 131 percent since 1999, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, it's no wonder more and more Americans are dropping off the insurance rolls. The U.S. House and Senate are both tinkering on their own versions of a health care reform bill, but both have the same goal -- covering all Americans -- that has been Barack Obama's mantra even before becoming president. Nevertheless, the details of how the $774-billion-plus price tag will be paid for, as well as whether there will be a government-run plan -- have kept the reform process moving in slo-mo. The health-insurance study analyzes data from national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveys. It looks at death rates after taking education, income, smoking, drinking, obesity and other factors into account. Respondents answered detailed questions about their socioeconomic status and health and were later examined by physicians. The CDC tracked study participants to see who died by 2000.

The findings are grim: the study estimates that lack of health insurance essentially kills 44,789 Americans annually. Previously, the figure had been closer to 18,000, according to the government-affiliated Institute of Medicine.

snip

:rofl:

burns woman to death during surgery.

ST. LOUIS – A southern Illinois woman died after being severely burned in a flash fire while undergoing surgery, a rare but vexing problem in operating rooms.

Janice McCall, 65, of Energy, Ill., died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., on Sept. 8, six days after being burned on the operating table at Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion, Ill., her family's attorney said.

Attorney Robert Howerton said he had requested medical records from the hospital and that he had few details about what happened. He declined to say why McCall was having surgery.

The Tennessee state medical examiner's office said McCall died of complications from thermal burns and classified her death as accidental.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090918/ap_on_re_us/us_surgical_fire_patient_dies