NCPA


Policy Issues

NCPA Publications

Both Sides

Editorial Opinions

Audio/Visual


NATIONAL CENTER FOR POLICY ANALYSIS
HOME / DONATE / ONE LEVEL UP / ABOUT NCPA / CONTACT US
Study Blames Deaths on Lack of Insurance
Daily Policy Digest

Health Issues / Uninsured

Wednesday, May 22, 2002
Adult Americans are dying because they aren't covered by health insurance, lack preventive services or do not receive a timely diagnosis and appropriate care -- 18,314 adults each year, to be exact -- according to a report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM), a nonprofit organization that advises Congress on health issues.

The report looked at the health care received by uninsured adults -- whether uninsured by choice (as is the case with many young and health adults) or due to lack of the availability of affordable insurance.

Thirty million working-age Americans, one in seven, lack employer-provided insurance and don't qualify for government medical care programs.

  • About 10 million children lack insurance; elderly Americans are covered by Medicare.
  • The estimated additional deaths among the uninsured include about 1,400 people with high blood pressure, 400 to 600 with breast cancer, and 1,500 diagnosed with HIV.
  • Uninsured trauma victims are less likely to be admitted to a hospital, receive the full range of needed services, and are 37 percent more likely to die of their injuries.
Uninsured people with colon or breast cancer face a 50 percent higher mortality risk, the report states.

Source: Steve Sternberg, "Study Blames 18,000 Deaths in USA on Lack of Insurance," USA Today, May 22, 2002; Institute of Medicine, "Care Without Coverage: Too Little, Too Late" (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 2002).

For text
http://www.usatoday.com/news/healthscience/health/healthcare/
2002-05-22-insurance-deaths.htm

For text of IOM report
http://www.nap.edu/books/0309083435/html/

For more on the Uninsured
http://www.ncpa.org/iss/hea
12770 Coit Rd., Suite 800 - Dallas, TX 75251-1339 - 972/386-6272 - Fax 972/386-0924
601 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 900 South Building - Washington, DC 20004 - 202/220-3082 - Fax 202/220-3096
Copyright © 2002 National Center for Policy Analysis - All rights reserved.