Health Care Study: Lack Of Insurance Has Led To 17,000 Child Deaths

AFP:

Lack of adequate health care may have contributed to the deaths of some 17,000 US children over the past two decades, according to a study released by the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

The research, to be published Friday in the Journal of Public Health, was compiled from more than 23 million hospital records from 37 states between 1988 and 2005.

Read the whole story: AFP

Comments

[brady61995]

04:47 PM on 11/01/2009

17000 chidren 122 people a day, when will our elected officials and big insurance understand that the price we are paying is too great. why do we have no leadership in our country? private financing of campaigns thats why.

[rtlr1004]

02:26 PM on 10/30/2009

I am angry that it appears we will not get a true public option for all Americans. I will do everything I can to see that those who opposed a robust public option are voted out of office...including the Democrats. Frankly, I do not care what rationale they give for having apprehensions about the public option; I see them for the liars and weaklings they are. We simply MUST get some strong Democratic rivals to run against the weak Democratic Senator and Representatives. Joe Lieberman must go. He has proven to be in the pockets of the insurance lobby as well. He is a traitor. It is hard to believe that I once thought highly of the man. It is hard to believe he was once the Vice Presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. Conneticut: Get rid of Lieberman. Now I wish the Democrat who defeated him in the primary had won the race outright. ALL of us must rise up and stand against this foolishness. Democrats MUST get just as energized as we were for Obama, and we must elect strong-minded Democrats to replace those who obstruct what the majority of Americans want. This is unforgiveable.

[CaptainZero1969]

02:21 PM on 10/30/2009

GOP - "Yes, but since these kids have already been born, we really don't give a rat's a$$ about them."

[alvdh1]

01:51 PM on 10/30/2009

Where are the pro life religious fanatics on this one. " Oh it must have been God's will to let these poor kids suffer and then die. We are single issue voters who only have time to fight abortion. This is why we vote Rethuglican because they are the party of hope on abortion. We cannot look beyond to the suffering of kids once they are born or the wars our Rethuglican politicians start that kill innocent women, children and the elderly. We reserve the right to apply " Thou shall not kill" to abortion only because it is a full time job trying to eliminate choice. We love Jesus, but when it comes to them thar criminal types, we have to fall back on the Old Testament which allows us to forget the "Thou shall not kill" and replace it with an eye for an eye. Ya know, God made it okay for us to behave like criminals one day and the next have his love because we temporarily atoned for our sins by confessing them to him and asking him for his foregiveness. It is vicious cycle we have come to enjoy because there is only one perfect person and it gets the convenient job done."

[Guitanguran]

10:34 PM on 10/30/2009

Headline: "Health Care Study: Lack Of Insurance Has Led To 17,000 Child Deaths"

This head clearly indicates a definitive cause and effect.

Quote from the article here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169216.php

"They also warned that the study only looked at records that were made after the deaths occurred, so it does not prove that lack of insurance raises the risk of dying, only that they are linked."

As co-researcher Dr David Chang, also from Johns Hopkins Children's Center, said: "Can we say with absolute certainty that 17,000 children would have been saved if they had health insurance? Of course not."

The problem here is NOT about how cold an cruel conservatives are, but how agenda driven headlines poison the debate.

We can have honest differences of opinion, but nobody with skin in this game wants us to talk to each other, especially DC politicians from both sides

[Bronxdude]

01:23 PM on 10/30/2009

John “take the money” Boehner, the United States Senator from UnitedHealthcare.
Tom “where’s my check” Coburn, the United States Senator from Cigna.
Jon “no maternity care” Kyl, the United States Senator from Blue Cross / Blue Shield
Mitch “show me the money” McConnell, the United States Senator from Aetna.
Blanche “let’em eat cake” Lincoln, the United States Senator from WellPoint.
Joe “not for the people” Lieberman, the United States Senator from MetLife.
Mitch “12 pieces of silver” McConnell, the United States Senator from Humana.

[Bronxdude]

01:23 PM on 10/30/2009

The new Hippocratic symbol: $$$$$$
The new Hippocratic Oath: screw the patient, make money, eviscerate the country.

[Bronxdude]

01:22 PM on 10/30/2009

UnitedHealthcare: The true death panel.

[Bronxdude]

01:22 PM on 10/30/2009

President Obama truly cares about the prosperity and well-being of every American—regardless of class or race—and is offering this country healthcare stability and security. Afraid of the impact Obama might have on unifying America, republicans are villainizing, dehumanizing and delegitimizing him to advance their exclusionist, racist and elitist agenda. Since Obama is not part of the entrenched Washington establishment or the elite upper crust, he feels no pressure to return favors that would unnecessarily sacrifice precious political capital he’ll need to strong-arm self-serving politicians. Republicans are singularly fixated on maintaining the status quo to ensure their continued generational access to wealth, influence and power. Similar to segregated country clubs, republicans are concerned primarily with separating and distancing themselves from members of the working-class. After all, the purpose of the working-class is to serve the wealthy by cooking their meals, rearing their children, cleaning their homes and doing whatever tasks deemed essential to ensuring their existence is awash in luxury, simplicity and overindulgence. Working-class conservatives have been duped into believing that their concerns are championed by republicans, a political party heavily comprised of aristocrats. In reality, the GOP is only concerned with advancing their own self-serving interests, which is why they exploit the working-class, oppose worker rights and want to keep America angrily divided by class and race. Universal health insurance would elevate the standard of living for working-class Americans, something republicans vehemently oppose.

[Bronxdude]

01:20 PM on 10/30/2009

In an attempt to divide Americans by race, defeat health insurance reform and unite Birthers, Tea-baggers, Tinfoil Hatters, phony Christians and other bigoted malcontents – the new republican base, soul-less prostitutes Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Phil Gingrey (R-Georgia) are ginning up fear, advocating hate inspired civil disobedience, rejecting fact-based discourse, and condoning the use of violence as a justifiable change agent. Similar to a Klan gathering, idiots like Gingrey are openly encouraging people to bring loaded guns to town hall meetings and political rallies. The Limbaugh led Republican Party has evolved into an insidious, compassionless, and implacable evil force totally committed to social injustice; starting with Reagan, republican ethics have slowly devolved into a seething mass of callous and destructive self-centeredness a notch below child molesters. Reagan rejected and demonized Medicare and sought to end reduced-fee lunch for children barely surviving in abject poverty. The notion of quality, affordable health insurance for every American is not complicated, especially when contemplated as a moral right. Health care is a fundamental right, not an expensive privilege decided by class, lineage, race, or wealth. With Ted Kennedy gone, the marginalized, downtrodden, exploited and disenfranchised – manipulated like pawns and denied access to political power – no longer have a voice at the table. Since soul-less republicans have abandoned moral reasoning in exchange for corporate payoffs, who among the democrats will fight for middleclass America and emerge as the next “Lion of the Senate.”

[fictioneer]

11:25 AM on 10/30/2009

This should be front page up top.

[keepemhonest]

11:58 AM on 10/30/2009

TRUE THAT!!!

[Cryostatic]

08:57 AM on 10/30/2009

Ignoring the veracity and legitimacy of the data and conclusions reached from it, we really do need a public option, or single payer. It's a pity that Congress has no intention of ever following through with meaningful reform, and are simply using the American taxpayers as a means of extorting insurance companies to line their own coffers.

[KIVPossum]

08:52 AM on 10/30/2009

It's a pity when any child dies because of inadequate care. However, having worked in hospitals for two decades, I question the number. Sure, some do, many do, but all not-for-profit hospitals must accept anyone - insurance or not. Perhaps the treatments given may be a bit less agressive, but normally the care-givers do not know the insurance or financial status of the patient (although they can make a guess).

17000 in 20 years is 850 a year, and that many die from staph infections they catch in the hospital.

We could use that as a rationale to keep people away from hospitals and save lives.


The main benefit of health care for all should be for well-care treatment, which will ultimately promote a healthier populace and lower hospital admissions. Much cheaper to treat something caught early on, or prevent it, than spend a fortune treating later.

[keepemhonest]

12:02 PM on 10/30/2009

Dear KIVP

As you must know then - Children without insurance are only allowed to be treated without being sent home from "not-for-profit hospitals" if and only if they are admitted for emergency/trauma care ...

"not-for-profit hospitals" do NOT treat kids who are a "little" sick ... thus those kids who are a "little" sick get NO health care - NO medicine and therefore their "little" sickness eventually becomes life threatening and then they are admitted often times it is TOO LATE.

Thus, YOU are WRONG ... children without insurance do not get "less agressive" care - they get NO CARE unless their illness has become so bad it is almost incurable.

[gs-425]

08:44 AM on 10/30/2009

Ooo look, another red herring 'fact'

[keepemhonest]

12:03 PM on 10/30/2009

gs

your comment is absurd.

[kareemachan]

02:06 PM on 10/30/2009

Yeah, Johns Hopkins is SUCH an unreliable source....

[SilenceDoGood1776]

08:13 AM on 10/30/2009

talkinhedz
Don't confuse them with facts, it only hurts there brains. They like to distort and live in a dream world. They care about other people only when it is other people who are paying for it.
abortions have been on a steady decline since 1981. who was in office then? This according to Guttmacher.org

[keepemhonest]

12:04 PM on 10/30/2009

your comment is silly & absurd

[Whinger]

05:46 AM on 10/30/2009

How long will it be until GOP twists it and blames it on the public option!