Study Links 45,000 Deaths Per Year To Lack Of Health Insurance

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.

Read the whole story: Reuters

Comments

[JohnLloydScharf]

11:15 AM on 11/05/2009

If health care is the problem, insurance is not the cause and government is not the answer.
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Of those "50 million," that lack insurance there were 45,000 who died without health care.
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WITH health care, 98,000 died FROM health care because of malpractice.
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The question is do we want to trust that largest corporation in the world, the U.S. Government. Do not expect house calls anytime soon.
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Imagine another 111 bureacracies that only ultimately must listen to the Secretary of the Treasury - another "service" of which is the IRS.
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http://theprogressivecapitalist.blogspot.com/2009/10/affordable-health-care-for-america-act.html
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That blog of mine above has several .pdf connections (HR. 3962 and two summaries, a few videos, and page references for new taxes and other mandates).
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If you cannot use the link, google "Progressive Capitalist H.R. 3962."
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If you believe the promises of this bill, you have to deal with the lie that it fosters competition with a government option called the "Public Option" and establishes the government as a monopoly making its own rules. Don't worry. You'll run out of "rich" soon enough.
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If you read the bill, there are plenty of opportunities to soak the middle class, if you do not mind the 1.6 million made jobless.
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REPUBLICAN Affordable Health Care For America Act
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MAKING HEALTH Care Affordable For EVERY AmeriCAN
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http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_hr3962_boehner_sub.pdf

[PhilipTaylor]

04:11 AM on 09/22/2009

WYDEN-BENNETT = WHAT ALL AMERICANS NEED:

0BAMA="Choice+Competition+Portability" = Quality+Affordable Coverage+Accountability

Current 5 Bills now = Over 85% are legally prohibited from choosing a public option?

Wyden = “Free Choice Proposal” = Empower Consumers to make GOOD CHOICES

0BAMA often said = "You should get the same deal that members of Congress get"

Wyden = Universal coverage model like members of Congress+Fed employees

Private&Public Choices=Competition=Lower Cost+Negotiate Fair Provider Pricing

An Internet Health Coverage Exchange so 100% of Americans (including the 180 Million with Employer Coverage) can simply Compare&Rank 1,300 Insurers+Medicare Public Option on Total Annual Cost, coverage, deductibles, co-pays, etc. Then make a choice! STRONGEST Medicare Public Option is HR 676 Medicare Choice OPTION!

If Medicare Public Option is ranked with the 1,300 Insurers by ANNUAL COST then Medicare will frequently be the Best Plan (Near Top in the Sorted List) so competition will be the key to having a market!

Put Consumer in the driver seat = Turn Tables on Insurers

Wyden+Bennett of Utah, Republican co-sponsor is not backing off from his support

Senator Bennett = he needs the choices and competition for the private sector

Wyden-Bennett Bill = Stabanow + Cantwell + Merkley on board

Insurers lower prices+increase coverage to compete =Best way to insure Innovation

Accountability= If insurer rips you off in Sept 2009 then Jan 2010, you CHANGE

INTERNET EXCHANGE =1,300 Insurers (ZIP state allowed)+Strongest Public Option

[PhilipTaylor]

04:12 AM on 09/22/2009

What is WR0NG with BAUCUS?

Puts Burden on Midd1e-C1ass

No Competition + No Public Option

Wrong on 1NCENTIVES + TAXES + PENALT1ES

Insurance Lobby = Baucus Bill ="status quo" for 180+ million without choices

Insurers = Call all the sh0ts because people don't have choices or accountability

Insurance model=Cherry p!ck hea1thy people and sending s!ck people to gov programs
1nhumane and 1ndefensible

Employers and insurers=Pa1s + Love Status Quo=1nsurer Profitable& employer agrees

But current bills = DO NOT give people the dea1 the President talked about

Increasing pool of customers by forcing purchase of coverage requires but no Competition to keep quality high and prices low

Baucus has it WRONG = Isolates 180 Million people have no Private+Public CHOICES

[Pro-parliamentarian]

03:02 PM on 09/21/2009

The Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources & Services Administration funds 1,110 health center grantees that operate more than 7,500 clinics and mobile medical vans. Health centers deliver primary and preventive care to over 16 million low-income or uninsured patients in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and U.S. possessions in the Pacific.
(See: http://www.hrsa.gov/about/factsheets/default.htm )

President Obama's FY 2010 Budget request for HRSA is $7,126,700,000, a decrease of $107,736,000 below the FY 2009 Omnibus level. (http://www.hrsa.gov/about/budgetjustification/ ).

Are these deaths the result of the system or the safety net?

[jordenbear]

01:55 AM on 09/21/2009

Though in many ways the healthcare bill has flaws including taxing and government control over medical affairs, the amount of deaths that are occuring because of people's lack of health care must also be brought to the table. The numbers of people dieing because of lack of coverage isn't brought up as much as taxing and what may happen to an individual, not the greater good. These statistics prove that something must be done to America's healthcare system may it be the bill Obama has now or another not yet created.

[TurboTax Timmy]

05:51 AM on 09/20/2009

Go back to sleep, When is the new American Idol coming on....

[yulyyz]

09:16 PM on 09/19/2009

Here is a post that compares these deaths with the significant effort the federal government put to reduce the number of fatal accidents on U.S. highways, which is also equal to about 40,000 every year:

http://open.salon.com/blog/kanuk/2009/09/19/death_panel_results_45000_annual_deaths

Why does the federal government spends billions of dollars to reduce motor vehicle fatalities, but does very little for the uninsured?

[Guitanguran]

10:57 PM on 09/19/2009

Are you sure its billions?

Latest budget figures from 2007 for the NHTSA was 815 million, hardly multiples of billions...

You realize of course that they didn't actually count 45,000 people that died prematurely because of lack of insurance. Its an mathmatical extrapolation that might be better described as a guess. Of course, if a number you pull out of the nether regions serves to move your agenda forward, why not add another "0" to it so it will be more impressive?

At least with the NHTSA, there were actual bodies to count.

[yulyyz]

11:32 PM on 09/19/2009

Well, if you read the post, you will notice that $750M is allocated to traffic safety. However, the entire bill (TEA-21) that is devoted to the entire transportation system, which also includes programs aimed at drivers, is $40 billion.

Even if the authors over-estimated their prediction by a few thousand people, say 40,000 instead of 45,000, it is still too many. A previous estimate put the number at 18,000. Given the fact that there are about 45 million people without insurance (also an estimate), the probably that 0.1% may die prematurely is not a farfetched number. Do you really believe that the estimate should be zero? Given the people I know who do not have medical insurance, I can see firsthand how in bad shape these folks are.

If I have the time, I will review the paper by Himmelstein et al. in greater details. I may arrive at different conclusions than you with regards to its scientific validity.

[yulyyz]

11:40 PM on 09/19/2009

Above, I meant to sya that it is too many people who died prematurely and could have been saved if they had access to medical insurance.

[Guitanguran]

05:39 PM on 09/19/2009

Being as these guys are the same ones pushing the 2/3 of all bankruptcies are due to medical bills fantasy...

We have another study that refutes their study.

So now what?

http://www.hsr.org/hsr/abstract....?aid=4470695438

[pjburke]

12:07 PM on 09/19/2009

@ AndyWright68

You state:

"FACT: It is a life the nanosecond cells begin to develop."

That's opinion, not fact. A statement of personal belief.

"FACT: If you destroy those cells you have ended a life."

That's opinion, not fact. Again, a statement of personal belief.

"FACT: If you do that intentionally you are guilty of murder."

That's a wholly misinformed opinion expressing a non-fact as if it were fact.

"Murder" is a technical legal term... the elements of which are defined by state law. The right to terminate a pregnancy, under certain defined conditions, is a protected right under the Constitution which is recognized by the Supreme Court. Thus, it cannot -- by definition -- be murder.

"FACT: A fetus is a life;"

That's opinion, not fact. Again, a statement of personal belief.

FACT: A woman can choose to not get pregnant.

Not reliably. But now we're getting to the real issue: male dominance and control of female sexuality.

"FACT: Once she is pregnant she is responsible for that life."

Yet more opinion. And yet more attempt to dominate and control female sexuality, by attempting to assign a non-existent responsibility for a non-existent, merely potential, life.

You are very confused as to what constitutes a "fact," a what distinguishes facts from beliefs and opinions.

[ChelseaC]

03:23 AM on 09/19/2009

Drs. Himmelstein and Woolhandler are American heros.

More heros:
http://www.pnhp.org/

http://www.madashelldoctors.com/

[Guitanguran]

11:24 PM on 09/18/2009

45,000?

Anybody here going to question the methodology involved, or just go with the number?

Dr. David Himmelstein, the guy quoted in the Reuters article, is the cofounder of Physicians for a National Health Program.

You don't think he's skewing the numbers for HIS agenda, do you?

He also said 2/3 of all bankruptcies are due to 'medical expenses' in another study. The numbers don't add up. According to his research the debt being carried associated with 'medical expenses' over a two year period of time was around $2000. Bankrupt over 2k over a 2 year period?

Is this guy going to be objective in his research?

Me? I don't think so.

I post, you decide.

http://www.counterpunch.org/welch10302004.html

[seattle music]

11:29 PM on 09/18/2009

What's your agenda?

I have heard the "two thirds of all bankruptcies are related to medical expenses" figure reported on a dozen news programs over the past year.

Maybe you should broaden your sources of information or do your own research?

[Guitanguran]

06:33 AM on 09/19/2009

My 'agenda' is not to have someone else with an agenda try to b.s. me.

"Maybe you should broaden your sources of information or do your own research?"

Do I need to go beyond the good Dr. Himmelstein's own data? He's trying to tell me that a 1 or $2,000 debt on 'medical expenses' carried over a two year period is making people file bankruptcy? Have you looked at HIS report to see how broadly he catagorizes 'medical expenses' to come up with the 60% number?

Look, all we're going to do here is argue. Our biggest problem is not our current healthcare system being 'broken'. Its the corruption and lying in Washington DC, on both sides.

Can you honestly say Mr. Obama is living up to his promises of transparency and 'change'? If he's going to get $s to cover healthcare expenses by eliminating waste and fraud in government, how about eliminating the waste and fraud first so we can actually believe what he and every other DC politician has been telling us for decades?

I'm a conservative, and after 8 years, I'm STILL WAITING for my fence down south. Makes me furious.

[ClevelandTom]

10:37 AM on 09/19/2009

"He also said 2/3 of all bankruptcies are due to 'medical expenses' in another study. The numbers don't add up. According to his research the debt being carried associated with 'medical expenses' over a two year period of time was around $2000. Bankrupt over 2k over a 2 year period? "

Why don't they add up? Just because the average of all carried medical bills is $2,000 doesn't mean there are losts of individuals with much, much higher unpaid amounts that forces them into bankruptcy. All the $2,000 amount means is that there are a lost of smaller unpaid bills.

Besides, if you are earning a low enough income, even a $2,000 bill becomes insurmountable. For a family living on unemployment compensation, such a payment is impossible.

[HST]

11:23 PM on 09/18/2009

Once upon a time people in America would have cared and done something about this.
Now people are scared that our warrantless wiretapping tort/turing government is going to get too big.


Go ahead and censor this -it is still true!

[Guitanguran]

06:36 AM on 09/19/2009

Me and a few of my closest personal friends went to DC on the 12th for just that reason.

What did you do?

[BruceHNV]

01:23 PM on 09/19/2009

If that's why you went to DC, your message evaporated into thin air or was drowned out by the Obama-haters.

[BruceHNV]

03:17 PM on 09/19/2009

In fact you were, in a word, co-opted.

[max08]

11:16 PM on 09/18/2009

45,000 deaths = 16.6 9/11s per year.

[jmpurser]

09:23 PM on 09/18/2009

One American dead every 12 minutes thanks to a health care system based on private insurance. And Obama's first move to "reform" this is to save the private insurance industry with the "public option" plan which depends on the private insurance industry to cover 95% of Americans.

[Bub]

09:58 PM on 09/18/2009

One American dead every 12 minutes is a small price to pay to preserve the monopoly profits of the Health Insurance Industry.

Rich people demand high returns on their investment. Poor people have to die for this. It's a small price to pay.

[Iowafarmgal]

08:04 PM on 09/18/2009

David Brooks, who seems to be an admirer of Obama policy thus far, was on the Jim Lehrer news hour tonight. Mr. Brooks stated that many might be surprised by what they end up paying under the Baucus plan. The magic cutoff is 300% over the poverty level. According to the 2009 Federal Register the poverty level for a family of four is $22,050.00. That would mean that a middle income working family would most likely be above the cut off for eligibility for this plan. Tell me, how does this help the "working poor"????? For a single person the poverty level is $10,830.00. I have two young adult children who will be screwed under this plan because they both want to work for living!

[Prakosh]

07:30 AM on 09/19/2009

And that is on gross not net income too by the way. So by the time you get done paying your taxes, your car payment, your car insurance, your college loan and your rent and utilities how much are you going to have left to pay to pay on that $1,000 a month health insurance you owe? And now you can see why health insurance stocks bounced on the release of the Baucus bill. It's not that young people don't want health insurance, it's just that they cant afford it.

[AmericanDreamWarrior]

05:26 PM on 09/18/2009

What happened to us? There was a time when we worked together for the betterment of all. Apparently now its every man for himself now. Is it the fault of the republican/conservatives who've become the "keep your hands off what's mine" crowd. Could we've become the once great nation if it was always this way, filled with greedy, selfish people full of their own righteous self-importance? What's so sad, they're suffering just as much as anyone else is due to this HC crisis but like to believe that they need noone so they impose it on others. I'm not sure what turned the party of "God" so malicious, maybe its because they feel that they're becoming irrelevant. Maybe this's why they oppose the idea of evolution, because they know if they don't progress they'll become extinct but they're afraid of change so they want to keep the rest of us where they are.

I can't imagine living with such unrealized mortal fear but if we can break through these ignorant barriers maybe we can convince them that moving forward's a good thing so we can live in some kind of harmony. I heard this recently; "living with the inability to forgive is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die", their self-preservation denial's blinding them. We have to figure out a way to get through to them, bridge the gap and work together against the common foe.

[ReservoirDog]

06:09 PM on 09/18/2009

Sorry, but there is no "getting thru to them"--THEY know what's best for everybody; there is no "bridging the gap" when its THEIR way or the Highway: and sadly, as we have witnessed since Obama's election--there is no "working together", when THEIR answer is always NO.

When someone refuses to Change or balks at any attempt to compromise....

its time to " Put the monkey in the cage & go to the next town" !