Community | September 17, 2009 | 57 comments

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

source: http://www.physorg.com/news172424058.html

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WakeUpPeople
A study published online today estimates nearly 45,000 annual deaths are associated with lack of health insurance. That figure is about two and a half times higher than an estimate from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2002.

The new study, "Health Insurance and Mortality in U.S. Adults," appears in today's [Thursday'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.

Previous estimates from the IOM and others had put that figure near 18,000. The methods used in the current study were similar to those employed by the IOM in 2002, which in turn were based on a pioneering 1993 study of health insurance and mortality.

Deaths associated with lack of health insurance now exceed those caused by many common killers such as kidney disease.

An increase in the number of uninsured and an eroding medical safety net for the disadvantaged likely explain the substantial increase in the number of deaths associated with lack of insurance. The uninsured are more likely to go without needed care.
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57 comments // 45,000 excess deaths annually linked to lack of health insurance: new study

  • kennymotown
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  

    • The reason we can't pay for good health coverage and dental is because the Nation's electric power companies are shoving so much EXTRA VOLTAGE into our Homes and Apartments the so-called "TRICKLE CURRENT" is slamming our electric bills 45% higher per monthly electric bill.

      Hot Dang. Another one solved by Gravity_Man.

      Yep! I ran my own d*mn field test by keeping all unused appliances turned off beginning this past April. Last month I stopped turning the breaker switches OFF and the bill shot back up where it used to be (where Appalachian Power Co. -APCO- wants it to be).

      They were billing me over $90.00 a month, I turned off the breakers and got it down to $46.00 a month, and when I stopped turning off the juice they hit me this coming month yep $89.91.

      Riley has nailed APCO to the proverbial and quite literal wall.

      Trickle current isn't "trickle current" at 248 Volts
      Trickle current isn't "trickle current" at 248 Volts
      Trickle current isn't "trickle current" at 248 Volts
      Trickle current isn't "trickle current" at 248 Volts
      Trickle current isn't "trickle current" at 248 Volts

      248 Volts shoving the electric meter into 24/7 super spin cycle!
      248 Volts shoving the electric meter into 24/7 super spin cycle!
      248 Volts shoving the electric meter into 24/7 super spin cycle!
      248 Volts shoving the electric meter into 24/7 super spin cycle!

      Where's my Whistleblower money???
      Where's my Whistleblower money???
      Where's my Whistleblower money???
      Where's my Whistleblower money???

      The Power companies of America are shoving extra voltage through the nation's electric meters. The entire Energy shortage is a wallet-padding mistake. The power companies are shoving electric current through everybody's electric meters creating the oil shortage, coal pollution, everything.

      Probably killing the poor bees too.
      Probably killing the poor bees too.
      Probably killing the poor bees too.
      Probably killing the poor bees too.
      Probably killing the poor bees too.

    • 2 years ago
  • hunzedog
  • hunzedog
  • jaystyx
    • 0
      jaystyx  

    • So much for all of that death panel nonsense. People are actually dying from not having health insurance.

      Those on the right trying to prevent health care reform need to get a grip on reality.

    • 2 years ago
  • ryan8566
    • 0
      ryan8566  
    • jaystyx:

      that is a great point, but i think those on the right understand the reality of people dying in ERs (reality), and at home for lack of health care (another reality). i would not be so callous to say they don't care, but it is apparent they have interests that outweigh ours.

    • 2 years ago
  • Nephwrack
  • wayseeker
    • 0
      wayseeker  

    • My recently unemployed son was having a mental breakdown and not one hospital in our city would accept him because they said he wasn't suicidal. I know the real reason was that he didn't have insurance which he lost when he lost his job. This is an example of our health care system having no compassion for the sick with out insurance. I am angry.

    • 2 years ago
  • hunzedog
    • 0
      hunzedog  

    • FDA MAKES MONEY OF 1 MILLION DEATHS A YEAR.
      ingredients in order ;400,000 tobacco 300,000-food- 200,000 fda approved drugs-100,000 alchohol

    • 2 years ago
  • hunzedog
    • 0
      hunzedog  

    • they are theyre own problem, they want to save you from them. if you dont believe me look at our only choices for president....(they are all still there) minus that crazy chick......drug oil coal ins.

    • 2 years ago
  • hunzedog
    • 0
      hunzedog  

    • how about the 200,000 deaths caused every year by FDA approved drugs.....what they gunna do about that?
      nothing ? mandate that we take h1n1 cuz it kills us quicker ! DON'T DO DRUGS KIDS !

    • 2 years ago
  • pakazak
  • hunzedog
  • pakazak
    • 0
      pakazak  
    • hunzedog:

      yes, by paying high prices for drugs ($400 / month from my ins company to the drug company for my mate's 'cancer maintenance drugs'), pharms can say "if you can't afford these drugs, we can help" in their commercials.
      so they run a socialized medicine scam and fill their pockets.

    • 2 years ago
  • hunzedog
    • 0
      hunzedog  
    • hunzedog:

      or ask your doctor about it....cuz you know they wont recomend ambien abilify cialis amitriptifan.assfx......and dont get depressed..they got 100 different drugs for that shit....bad side effects though. and the cancer cures they give you will cause cancer...its sad.

    • 2 years ago
  • pakazak
  • Nephwrack
  • Daimyo
  • Nephwrack
    • 0
      Nephwrack  

    • REALLY? EFFING REALLY? how many of you right wingers relatives have to die because of lack of insurance coverage before you realize that our schools, fire departments, police, military, libraries, DOT, roads, W A T E R, garbage and mail service are all "socialized"

      MORONS! we are the only, ONLY, industrialized nation without socialized health care.

      terrorists in Guantanamo bay benefit from socialized health care, because we pay for it, and yet, 9/11 first responders DIE leaving their families in debt, because we cannot deign to petition our public servants to implement a program that would insure coverage for all citizens.

      our blind, idiotic hatred for illegal aliens is part of the problem. Obama's plan does not even cover them, yet still you right wingnuts rail against "socialism".

      you all make me sick.

    • 2 years ago
  • funnicus
    • 0
      funnicus [removed]  
    • Nephwrack:

      You know who makes me sick? These either / or bumper sticker mentality jackasses. I bet you know one.
      I call them republicrats. Stuck in their bi-partison illusion. You like all the music "country AND western"

    • 2 years ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • shanklinmike
    • 0
      shanklinmike  
    • Nephwrack:

      Are you saying we don't have central planned healthcare right now? That the bureaucrats and politicians have had nothing to do with healthcare over the last 60 years? You seriously believe we have free market healthcare right now? I need to know the answer to this question. If you think the bureaucrats have had their hands off our healthcare for the last 60 years then you do not understand what created the shortages, price distortions, and 1 out of 7 people w/o healthcare coverage. Our country is now fascist, and the only option we are given is either the republicans neocon corporate insurance the is fascistly mandated by the government....or we can socialize it outright......we are never given the option of FREEDOM! THAT is what will lower prices, reduce shortages, answer to consumers, and increase the amount of charity for those who can not afford major surgeries. Everytime you oligopolize an industry is gets worse. Look at the organizations you use in your example. We are trying to end the state's monopoly on our education that has destroyed it, we don't want DOT, we don't want a huge socialized military, and besides, almost every other function you list is constitutional at a local level......why not get the more efficient states to subsidize healthcare instead of the Federal monopoly. The same group of bureaucrats and politicians that created the housing bubble through injections of artificial credit from the Federal Reserve. Have you seriously learn nothing from history? Even if what you want was constitutional, there would still be more efficient ways of going about it then the Federal government monopolizing it. I have shouted for decades that we are more fascist, not socialist......if you listen to the right-wing neocons, you will get lots of horrible arguments....keep your arguments with the better educated libertarians.....that is if you want a challenge.

    • 2 years ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • Daimyo
  • Nephwrack
  • proxstoner
    • 0
      proxstoner  

    • And I'm sure the people againts social healthcare are complaining about the lower income lifestyle, which may include drinking, smoking and not eating healthy. I mean can you blame them? But they are doing the same thing, just they have money to get medication to prevent death from things like that. It kills me to read that people are dying from preventable problems, such as kidney stones. But hey, if you don't have the money, you don't have the treatment. It's social darwanism, but not who is the fittest, it's the richer who survives.

    • 2 years ago
  • WakeUpPeople
    • 0
      WakeUpPeople  

    • What amazes me is that the grand total of American deaths from Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and Iraqi insurgents does not even come close to the number of unnecessary deaths in the USA per year due to the current health care system. In the days following 9/11, we were all so united in our grief and our anger at our common enemy. Why are people so indifferent, or even worse, so willing to protect the institutions that cause more American deaths than all of the terrrorists in the world?

    • 2 years ago
  • samthesixth
  • WakeUpPeople
  • samthesixth
  • pakazak
    • 0
      pakazak  
    • samthesixth:

      actually, nothing saves lives, we're all gonna die. it's the quality of life we experience that matters.
      the interesting part of all of this is the part about preventive maintenance.
      helping us take care of ourselves so that we don't need emergency rooms as much or face life threatening diseases early in our lives is a key part of healthcare that insurance companies seem very willing to ignore.

    • 2 years ago
  • Nephwrack
  • EmperorThan
  • bmrabbit
    • 0
      bmrabbit  
    • EmperorThan:

      TO: EmperorThan--I think YOU'RE missing the point, people without insurance are dying....what have gay people getting married got to do with this! Lack of health insurance is a very serious problem in this country that needs attention along with other problems, such as the poor economy, Social Security, the record national debt, two wars where we don't belong, high unemployment, people losing their homes, and a myriad of other critical and personal issues for Americans. There are plenty of important local and national problems that need your voice and what to do pick on, gay marriage.

      What rock are you living under? Unless of course you are one of the rich, insured 2% of this country who can sit back and afford to throw rocks at those of us who have to fight for everything we have lost, don't have, or will never see because of the "Have's."

      At least find a current, relative subject to throw your uneducated, bigoted remarks at.

    • 2 years ago
  • Nephwrack
  • artemis6
  • bombastinator
    • 0
      bombastinator  

    • You'd think there would be many more. May depend on how they are counting it. i knew three people personally who were effectively died because they couldn't afford care. A late diagnosis cancer, an overweight woman with a broken leg, and a diabetic.

    • 2 years ago
  • Maven_25
  • bombastinator
    • 0
      bombastinator  
    • bombastinator:

      She was heavy so the leg didn't heal. It didn't heal so she lost her job. With her job went her insurance so she couldn't get the surgery so she applied for disability so she could get Medicare to get the surgery That took over a year. By that time she was getting complications and couldn't have the surgery any more. It went down hill from there. I lost track of her after she stopped being able to go out socially so I don't have many details about the later stuff. She was the Friend of an ex-girlfriend. Death by slippery motel steps + buracracy.

    • 2 years ago
  • Maven_25
    • 0
      Maven_25  
    • bombastinator:

      Yes, that is sad... I was self-employed and looking for insurance and then got sick and was rushed to emergency room--I too am denied, always--it's considered pre-existing and I'm considered a liability. So, I know that the system is really bad for some of us. I took for granted that I workout and take care of myself, but things happen regardless; now I just hope that something passes that really meets the needs of people that otherwise go without.

      Prob. too much info--but I do hope something changes for the better.

    • 2 years ago
  • Maven_25
    • 0
      Maven_25  

    • They are proposing a public OPTION--this is the operative word.

      And, who the hell knows exactly how the gov. will do since, currently, corporations run the show.

      I'd like to think we have a president who is trying to make a real difference.

      I guess I'm one of those morons--well, better than the alternative...

    • 2 years ago
  • thewarnerla
  • acontradiction
  • healthcare12345
  • asherp
    • 0
      asherp  

    • Hey, in the spirit of Max Baucus's bill, I think we can solve some other problems through mandates.

      Let's mandate that the homeless buy homes.

      And that the hungry buy food.

      If they don't, they'll be subject to a fine.

    • 2 years ago
  • outtheinside
    • 0
      outtheinside  
    • asherp:

      the ironic thing is that you target people without the will or means to support themselves. anyone with a job can get healthcare under these plans. if you want to talk hunger or poverty, then you'll have to have a better argument than this...

    • 2 years ago
  • Nephwrack
  • hunzedog
    • 0
      hunzedog  
    • asherp:

      dont forget the mandated shots....gun or hypo? your choice ! oh and what do you think will happen at those mandated doctor visits.....they will hook you up to a machine that checks to see if your a moron. if your not, they will give you a pill to make you one......fu(k dat
      dont do drugs

    • 2 years ago
  • asherp
    • 0
      asherp  
    • asherp:

      Nephwrack, I'm not cynical, I just know what I'm talking about.

      Let's just say, I've been around the block a few times.

      I've worked for NGOs around elections since 2004, and I've worked on quite a few campaigns, two of them presidential campaigns.

      I've been inside the machine, I know how it runs.

    • 2 years ago
  • AreOh
    • 0
      AreOh  

    • Hm, this is a pretty sobering statistic. It really is an embarrassment that we are the only industrialized nation that does not have universal healthcare. Combine the with the obnoxious amount of military spending and you really have to question the priorities of those running our country.

    • 2 years ago
  • outtheinside
    • 0
      outtheinside  

    • great timing. i also like that you can't question the methodology as it was employed and proven for other studies over the past decade and a half. let's keep adding that fuel to our fire!

    • 2 years ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  

    • Add to that 45,000 the other 100,000 (200,000?) that dies from hospital disease germs they picked up while their for something else, then add to that the doctors cutting out good organs and such, next thing you know you're losing 300,000 AMERICAN CONSUMERS a year.

      Man, that's gotta hurt (The Rich, the business owners). And that isn't counting all the lost hours from work for disease shouldn't have even happened if the sick people had dental care and these elective fat reduction surgeries were paid for under health insurance that runs away when they're needed.

      A very sad report. Soldiers die... so we can die?!

    • 2 years ago
  • CroatianPimp
    • 0
      CroatianPimp  

    • PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE ANYTHING WE MUST STAND UP AND FIGHT FOR HEALTCARE NOW IS THE BEST CHANCE

      BECUASE IF WE HAVE THE NEXT PRESIDENT BE REPUBLICAN U CAN KISS HEALTCARE GOODBYE

    • 2 years ago
  • Marilynn_Murray
    • 0
      Marilynn_Murray  

    • Of course the uninsured die more than the insured. The fallacy that people can get treated in the emergency room is just that. You can go to the emergency room in dire straits, all they have to do is a stabilize you so you can go somewhere else. Compassion?

    • 2 years ago
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