Deaths Rising for Lack of Insurance, Study Finds

Source: New York Times

February 26, 2010, 1:21 pm
Deaths Rising for Lack of Insurance, Study Finds
By MICHELLE ANDREWS

As members of the Obama administration and Congress met on Thursday to try to find common ground on health care, a new report warned that without comprehensive legislation, more than 275,000 adults nationwide will die over the next decade because of a lack of health insurance. Nearly 14,000 of those deaths would occur in New York State.

An earlier study by the Institute of Medicine estimated that 18,000 people died prematurely in 2000 because they lacked insurance; the Urban Institute updated that figure to 22,000 in 2006. The new study, by liberal advocacy group Families USA, applied the same methodology used in the previous reports to drill down and calculate, on both a national and state-by-state basis, the latest figures.

“This is only the tip of the iceberg, and the most severe consequence, which is death,” said Kathleen Stoll, director of health policy at Families USA. In addition, thousands of other citizens, perhaps millions, are experiencing a reduction in the quality of their lives and their health because they lack insurance, she said.

Read more: http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/26/deaths-rising-due-to-lack-of-insurance-study-finds/?hp

The market says that if you can't afford to stay alive, die.

:sarcasm:

America is a death cult.

Sorry for the all caps, but to see it framed like that drives me crazy.

How many people *with* insurance died needlessly because it wouldn't pay for vital medicines or procedures?

of 27,500 a year and that's supposed to be an increase?


Fuzzy math?



"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly 45,000 people die in the United States each year -- one every 12 minutes -- in large part because they lack health insurance and can not get good care, Harvard Medical School researchers found in an analysis released on Thursday.

"We're losing more Americans every day because of inaction ... than drunk driving and homicide combined," Dr. David Himmelstein, a co-author of the study and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard, said in an interview with Reuters.

Overall, researchers said American adults age 64 and younger who lack health insurance have a 40 percent higher risk of death than those who have coverage.

The findings come amid a fierce debate over Democrats' efforts to reform the nation's $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare industry by expanding coverage and reducing healthcare costs.

More at link http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE58G6W520090917

Forcing Americans to BUY Health Insurance that they can't afford to use will NOT solve this problem.
Nor will it solve the problem of Medical Bankruptcies.

However, Obama's "Uniquely American Solution" WILL provide a few more Summer Homes in Aspen, and a few more Yachts for the BIG CHEESE execs.

And, HEY...we don't want to begrudge them their MILLIONS.
Look at all the baseball players....
and..and..um..Oh Yeah, its not Meee.
Its the "Free Market"!~!!!
All HAIL the Giant Invisible HAND!!!



"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans. I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans, family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."---Paul Wellstone

The biggest obstruction to gaining quality care is the lack of affordable access.

100,000 people in the U.S. die every year due to lack of healthcare. But we've got carte blanche to pay for two wars of choice, and whatever toys the military wants.

Just imagine how many people are suffering incredible agony for years before hand.

Too many surgeries, cancer survivor (so far), and diabetic.

My husband continues to work in the hope that we can make it to Medicare. We can't afford the insurance if he takes an early retirement at 60. Today, his arthritis was so bad, he had trouble walking. Once he parks, it's about 1/4 mile to the office.

Just a matter of time, and yet; we are the lucky ones. We still have coverage. It costs us a lot. We won't be able to hang on if he has to quit work.

Pre-existing conditions...I'm afraid that this will be the deal breaker for us.