Politics

One Person Every 12 Minutes In The US Dies Because They Lack Health Insurance

By Karina

According to a Harvard study released yesterday, an estimated 45,000 people in the United States die every year ? one every 12 minutes ? because they lack health insurance coverage. The urgent need for health insurance reform has never been so clear. As Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a Harvard professor and one of the study?s authors, told the New York Times, “if you extend coverage, you can save lives.” Indeed, we lose more Americans every day due to lack of health insurance than drunken driving and homicide combined.

Selected findings:

As many as 45,000 people in the U.S. die every year as a result of being uninsured

Uninsured adults under 64 years old have a 40 percent higher risk of dying than those with health care coverage

The uninsured are more likely to go without needed care than the insured

The uninsured are more likely to visit the emergency room and be admitted to the hospital with preventable illnesses

The uninsured are less likely to receive preventative and primary care because they lack a source of regular health care

In addition, the cost of emergency care for 46 million uninsured Americans is passed on to Americans who are insured. The average American family of four with health insurance pays more than $1,000 each year in extra health care costs to subsidize this uncompensated, and often costly, care. Learn more about the hidden health care tax>>

America?s Affordable Health Choices Act guarantees Americans will have access to affordable, high quality health care and will dramatically reduce the number of uninsured Americans ? improving the health and well being of millions of individuals and bringing down the skyrocketing cost of health care for all Americans ? as well as saving lives.

Learn more about the Harvard study:

Read the study>>

New York Times - Harvard Medical Study Links Lack of Insurance to 45,000 U.S. Deaths a Year>>

Reuters - Study Links 45,000 U.S. Deaths to Lack of Insurance>>

ABC News - Uninsured More Likely to Die, Study Finds>>

Full post as published by The Gavel on September 18, 2009 (boomark / email).