LookieNoNookie
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Joined: 8/9/2008
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Lucylastic
Advocacy group: 26,000 die prematurely without health insurance
A national health care consumer advocacy group estimates that three Americans die every hour as a result of not having health insurance.
According to "Dying for Coverage," the latest report by Families USA, 72 Americans die each day, 500 Americans die every week and approximately Americans 2,175 die each month, due to lack of health insurance.
"The Affordable Care Act was passed by Congress to address an American tragedy and an American shame," said Ron Pollack, Executive Director Families USA. "The fact remains that for the millions of Americans without health coverage, only the Affordable Care offers the promise of access to affordable coverage and to a longer and healthier life."
Families USA has been a staunch supporter of President Obama's health care reform law.
The report found that the reasons for being uninsured varied, but many of those without health insurance had coverage denied because of pre-existing conditions. Others have been priced out of the market on the heels of a failing economy - a time when keeping their homes and feeding their families took precedence over holding on to insurance in the face of rising premiums. And some lost their benefits when employers stopped providing coverage.
According to Families USA between 2005 and 2010, premature deaths rose from 20,350 to 26,100. The total number during that time was 134,120. Each state is affected, the organization said. Vermont had the fewest deaths with 28 while California had the most – 3,164, according to this report.
The method used to determine how many lives were lost was based on a model developed by the Institute of Medicine in 2002 for their report "Care without Coverage: Too Little, Too Late." In that report, the IOM found 18,000 adults between 25 and 64 died in 2000 because they didn't have health insurance.
More here
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/20/families-usa-says-26000-die-prematurely-without-health-insurance/?hpt=hp_bn12
apropos for the expected HC decision coming today. Or maybe just to damn late for too many people
http://www.familiesusa.org/issues/uninsured/publications/dying-for-coverage.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Medicine
links to the "original" groups mentioned
Honey, more people die every month from not walking as an exercise routine, more still die from smoking, more still die from pure stupidity.
Yes...we need some kind of national health directive but truly, when you take out 18 - 30 year olds (they live forever...you remember...I know I do), those that even if given a check for the full amount, would refuse to purchase health care, and others that I can't possibly calculate...what you're left with is about 7% of the population that's uninsured.
That's a lot....but it's a number we can deal with. Right now we're paying for well beyond that, and the numbers are growing fast and are at best....incalculable.
Now, granted, those that refuse are definitely clogging up the E.R.'s of the world....ours for sure....and a universal system would ameliorate much of that but....here's the deal....you can't solve every problem and there are more than several who have done the math (I haven't) and they say that "this plan" will cost us trillions...beyond what we already can't afford.
The numbers grow daily and they are beyond staggering.
I'm not smart enough to do the math so...I won't, but I will say this: I hope some day we can all afford to help others who are lacking.
Unfortunately, at this time, with proven debts exceeding not only our OWN GDP by a factor of 6 or 7, but as interestingly....the world's annual GDP...something tells me we need to work closer to home...solve a few problems that are much nearer to our, known problems.
100 years ago when you were sick, you went to family or the Catholic church. Today you ask for your govt. to solve whatever ills ail you.
That's a huge change from when we took care of our own (and we paid taxes accordingly) to today, when we expect someone else to take care of everyone....
Including our own.
My family matters to me and I work very hard to make sure that they're on the top of my list. I absolutely realize that most don't have the resources...but I think we need to (collectively) re-assess our thinking.
(Because....what we've BEEN thinking....ain't working).
< Message edited by LookieNoNookie -- 6/26/2012 6:45:07 PM >
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RE: Advocacy group: 26,000 die prematurely without heal... - 
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