Open thread for night owls: The deadly consequences of being uninsured

Families USA has released its new report, Dying for Coverage: The Deadly Consequences of Being Uninsured. It tells a grim tale. Throughout the nation, thousands of Americans die each year for one reason: They have no health insurance. In 2010, the year the study surveyed found almost 50 million Americans had no health insurance of any kind.

The organization's previous study in 2000 found that 18,000 Americans between the ages of 25 and 64 had died for lack of insurance. In 2010, situation was worse because the recession had cost millions more Americans to lose their job-connected health coverage, and even those that had jobs wound up without insurance because their stagnant wages couldn't keep up with the rapid rise in premium costs.

One statistic pried out of the report by the Campaign Justify Rates is that more Californians died for lack of health insurance than were killed in traffic accidents for 2010. Other findings:

' „Across the nation, 26,100 people between the ages of 25 and 64 died prematurely due to a lack of health coverage in 2010. That works out to:

„  ' 2,175 people who died prematurely every month;
„  ' 502 people who died prematurely every week;
  '„ 72 people who died prematurely every day; or
„  ' Three every hour.
„
' Between 2005 and 2010, the number of people who died prematurely each year due
to a lack of health coverage rose from 20,350 to 26,100.

„' Between 2005 and 2010, the total number of people who died prematurely due to a
lack of health coverage was 134,120.

„' Each and every state sees residents die prematurely due to a lack of health insurance.

' In 2010, the number of premature deaths due to a lack of health coverage ranged
from 28 in Vermont to 3,164 in California.

„' The five states with the most premature deaths due to uninsurance in 2010 were
California (3,164 deaths), Texas (2,955 deaths)

[Among the many reasons people die for lack of health coverage:]

' Uninsured adults are more than six times as likely as privately insured adults to go without needed care due to cost (26 percent versus 4 percent).

'„ Cancer patients without health insurance are more than five times more likely to delay or forgo cancer-related care because of medical costs than insured patients (27 percent versus 5 percent).

(Families USA)

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