Lack of health insurance kills 45,000 Americans annually: Report
Filed under: Healthcare
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.
Death rates stemming from a lack of insurance are higher for males (37 percent increase), current or former smokers (102 percent and 42 percent increases), people who said that their health was fair or poor (126 percent increase) and those that examining physicians said were in fair or poor health (222 percent increase), the study finds. Deaths associated with lack of health insurance now exceed those caused by many common killers such as kidney disease, the study says.
"The Institute of Medicine, using older studies, estimated that one American dies every 30 minutes from lack of health insurance," says study co-author David Himmelstein, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard. "Even this grim figure is an underestimate -- now one dies every 12 minutes."
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 21)
9-18-2009 @ 4:56PM
Robert Leithead said...
In 2001 heart disease claimed 669,697 lives; cancer claimed 553,251. Adverse drug reactions, medical errors, unneccessary medical procedures etc killed 783,936 people making the American Medical Profession the #1 cause of death in the United States.
If 44,789 people died because they didn't have insurance and 783,936 died because they did, the odds are you're better off without insurance.
Reply
9-19-2009 @ 2:45AM
DC said...
This is interesting. What is the source of your statistics?
9-19-2009 @ 11:38AM
Robert Leithead said...
Medical death statistics at:
http://www.mercola.com/2003/nov/26/death_by_medicine.htm
9-19-2009 @ 5:04PM
Jonathan said...
Touche'
9-19-2009 @ 5:54PM
Shteeevie said...
Darn right, Robert. Not to mention the improved quality of life affordable by keeping your money from the medical and insurance industries. Obama's proposals only serve to improve the flow of cash into the pockets of fraudsters.
9-19-2009 @ 5:54PM
dbc1019 said...
That is a typical ignorant response, besides aol, you must only limit yourself to foxnews. Of those 45 thousand people, how many had treatable illness? You are a person of spin, and are too ignorant to see past numbers that fit your own idea of truth.
9-20-2009 @ 8:43AM
acbntx2008 said...
heres the sad part: The Republican party that is at the forefront aimed at killing any reform KNOWS THIS! They dont give a DAMN! about the sick and uninsured, I say lets take THEIR health insuranse from their families and see how they like it
9-20-2009 @ 10:36AM
pablo said...
Great. I have always stay away from the doctors, unless they have to take me to the emergency. Refuse tests and procedures, and my insurance is great. Those who seek will always find.
9-20-2009 @ 11:32AM
D. said...
I couldn't agree with you more.
9-20-2009 @ 12:38PM
joe Verska said...
As a physician I undestand there are medical errors and that those of us in health care need to be perfect but unfortunately human errors do occur. That being said if people take better care of them selves by avoiding cigarette smoking, maintainging their weight and exercising many health care problems would go away.
9-20-2009 @ 10:00PM
steve said...
acbntx2008, so you are basically drilling it down to 45,000 people a year. So if we take the $1 trillion/10 year price tag we get $100 billion a year. Divide that by 45,000 and we get $2,222,222 a year. Most people don't use that much healthcare in their life. As much as I would love to care, I also think the financial health of a nation is a little more important. Sorry. Dbc1019, Fox doesn't support the complete bankrupting of this country for a few. In fact, they are still using the 47 million figure even though more than 10 million are illegal immigrants.
9-20-2009 @ 4:10PM
Tibbi Gunn said...
Thank you. A voice of sanity in the wilderness is always appreciated.
9-20-2009 @ 7:22PM
John M said...
To say people are better off without a means to afford medical care is ludicrous. Dollars to donuts, you have healthcare insurance or a means to pay for healthcare when needed. I also bet you go to a doctor or hospital when needed.
9-20-2009 @ 9:14PM
scott said...
you are so right!!!!!!!!!!!!! doctors kill more than aids and guns!!!!!
9-21-2009 @ 12:00AM
John said...
About 20,000 are illegals. Even Obama cut the number down in a later speech to 30 million to deduct the illegals he wants to cover with free (paid by you) healthcare.
9-21-2009 @ 5:45AM
FOUBACMKA said...
This holds true every year.
9-21-2009 @ 7:51AM
rick said...
Too much insurance can be as deadly as not enough insurance in America..I have observed many times in my 20 years general practice that physicians order tests and medications even with low risk profiles based on whether the health insurance covers it and will not order the same tests if the insurance won't cover it.."it's not cost effective"...several common medical procedures have mortality rates in the one in one thousand range...most of these are not screening or cosmetic or child -birth procedures performed on the healthy population (150,000 cosmetic teenage plastic surgeries a year are an exception, of course), but people with severe primary and underlying , life altering or potentially life threatening conditions often requiring general anesthesia. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy are not given nor taken lightly and certainly not in a population without clearly defined risks and benefits. They are not given as a casual therapeutic trial the way we do migraine medicines and heart burn medicines. Most people with appropriate informed consent will still accept that level of risk and will pay the financial costs if they are medically necessary and appropriate...This is only to say we need a health care system of professionally defined evidence-based applications, not driven by corporate profit business decisions, and with a greater emphasis on primary care/functionally optimizing/" holistic"/quality of life driven guidelines rather than specialty-driven, "single-organ of interest" procedure-based and revenue motivated guidelines. Harmonizing the vast already "socialized" US tax-payer funded system of insurances and credits into a single-payer, universal coverage plan will do that most efficiently. The first step is getting over "the big delusion" in America that true "private health insurance" even really exists at all today.
9-21-2009 @ 11:27AM
red white & YOU said...
Ins co's make 1 out of every 3 dollars spent on health care....How could anyone NOT want an OPTION. I would think like anything else the MORE option's one has the better off...Unless a member of the OLD Grand Party is telling you different....Options benefit everyone except the Ins Co's...Lobbyists + republicans=bad times
9-21-2009 @ 12:39PM
harry said...
i love the fact you are better off without usung statistics is great. had me lmao.. do you notice when they say how many are uninsured the figure includes illegals....can't include these criminals cause they don't belong here and have broken our laws the minute they stepped on our soil. screw the repubs n dems.. they have failed us. mexico is taking us over without fieing a shot... put the employers in jail and throw away the key.. mine the borders and set up machine gun posts... i'm sick of this mess our leaders have done to us..
9-21-2009 @ 10:38PM
Gregory, David said...
I am wondering how you came by these sats. The hc
bill hr3200 is a sham. It is about power not health
insurance. I do not want a bureaucrat making decisions
about my health care. If it is mandatory, we will lose our
GREAT health insurance. Page 22 of the HC bill mandates the Govt will audit the books of ALL employers that self insure!