Reports Reveal State-by-State Impact of Lack of Health Coverage
In 2002, a national study by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences demonstrated the direct link between a lack of health coverage and deaths from health-related causes. Drawing on that study, Families USA, the national organization for health care consumers, recently made available reports for all 50 states that show how many people are expected to die in each state each week because they don’t have health coverage. A separate report is also available for the District of Columbia.Among the figures cited is the fact that more than seven working-age Texans die each day due to a lack of health insurance. Other reports reveal that, on average, approximately 960 people in Illinois died in 2006 because they had no health coverage, and nearly 9,900 uninsured New Yorkers between the ages of 25 and 64 died in the years 2000 to 2006.
Uninsured adults are more likely to be diagnosed with a disease, such as cancer, at an advanced stage, which greatly reduces their chance of survival. The Institute of Medicine found that uninsured adults are 25 percent more likely to die prematurely than adults with private health insurance.
Although 50 state reports were released by Families USA, the organization cautioned against trying to make state-to-state comparisons. The variables of population size, mortality rates, and uninsured rates for people ages 25 to 64 have made each state report unique.