Health Care Restrictions Cost Thousands of Lives in US
Student Researchers:
~ Delana Colvin, Shannon Cree, and Anna Kung (DePauw University)
~ Michaella Armanino, Kimberly Sullivan, and Tracena Webster (Sonoma State University)
Faculty Evaluators:
~ Rebecca Bordt and Kevin Howley (DePauw University)
~ Suzel A. Bozada-Deas, Peter Phillips, and Ben Frymer (Sonoma State University)
Despite the law on the reform of national health care, health care in the United States will remain sad for many Americans, have resulted in deaths and personal tragedies continue. A research group at Harvard University recently estimated that 2,266 veterans of the U.S. military have died in 2008 due to lack of health insurance. The figure is more than fourteen times the number of deaths suffered by U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2008, more than double those who have died since the war began in 2001. Harvard researchers have concluded that 1.46 million veterinarians working age had no health coverage, increasing their mortality rate. The American Journal of Public Health published the results show that being insured increases the probability of an individual of dying by 40 percent.
In a story about health inequalities, the twin daughters Stacie Ritter was diagnosed with cancer at the age of four. Both need stem cell transplants and other cancer treatments. The twins have survived, but the glands to control their growth has been irreparably damaged by the treatment. To continue to grow, they need a doctor-recommended regular injections of growth hormone. Stacie's husband company voltage CIGNA CIGNA health insurance and refused to cover the plans hormones. Whenever Stacie takes her daughters to the doctor for the shooting, which costs $ 440. The incident marked the latest chapter in the ongoing difficulties with family health insurance industry. Among the cancer treatment and care denied, Stacie and her husband had to declare bankruptcy because of medical expenses. Ed Hanway, CEO of CIGNA, made $ 12,200,000 last year, $ 5,883 an hour.
legislation on health insurance are often complicated by the States, where health insurance is legally controlled. There are eight states plus the District of Columbia, where insurance companies can argue that being beaten by their spouse has a preexisting condition for which you may be denied health insurance coverage. Victims of domestic violence are legally excluded from health insurance companies say it is the pre-existing condition and can not be covered. The companies involved, Nationwide, Allstate, State Farm, Aetna, Metropolitan Life, equitable society, the First Colony Life, Prudential and Principal Financial Group, were all found in 1995 to refuse or cancel coverage for women were beaten. States that still allow this practice are Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma and Wyoming.
Although the new national health care addresses many of the problems mentioned above, thousands of people continue to suffer in the U.S. for many years to come.
Update by Steffie Woolhandler, MD
In fall 2009, the debate on health care reform has been shaken, we reported that 1.54 million Americans uninsured veterans in 2008 and 2226 would die from lack of coverage. We based our analysis on our research published recently (in the American Journal of Public Health) who are uninsured increases the likelihood of dying by 40 percent. Thus, lack of health insurance causes 44,798 deaths each year among the 46 million uninsured Americans. We combined these data with charts of the number of uninsured veterans by the U. S. Census Bureau March 2009 Current Population Survey, which surveyed Americans about their insurance coverage and veteran status. We only veterans classified as uninsured if none of them had health insurance nor received ongoing care at Veterans Health Administration (VHA) hospitals or clinics.
We estimated that among the nonelderly veterans, 2266 deaths were associated with lack of health insurance last year. This figure is more than fourteen times the number of deaths (155) suffered by U.S. troops in Afghanistan a year and more than twice as many people have died since the war began.
Many Americans believe that all veterans can get help from the VHA, veterans, including perhaps unable to obtain VHA care. In general, VHA facilities provide care to a veteran who is disabled from a condition of military service, and treatment for specific medical conditions acquired during military service. Veterans with low incomes in excess of a means test are eligible for care in VHA facilities, but have the status of lowest priority (priority Priority 5 or 7, depending on income level). Veterans with higher incomes are classified in the group of lowest priority, and are not eligible for inclusion in VHA.
Like other uninsured Americans, veterinarians are more uninsured workers are too poor to afford private insurance but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid or for the poor by HAV. Unfortunately, lack of insurance continue to cause death, despite the reform bill of health news. According to the Congressional Budget Office, 23 million Americans remain uninsured in 2019, when the law is fully implemented. This translates into about 23,000 unnecessary deaths each year. Unfortunately, Congress has bowed to pressure from the insurance industry and medicines, and refused to consider reforms that have amply provided all-American single-payer national health insurance.
For more information, visit Physicians for a National Health Program (www.pnhp.org), an educational organization and research of 17,000 physicians that support single-payer national health insurance.
Update by the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center
According to the Hopkins researchers, a study published Oct. 29 May 2009 in the Journal of Public Health is one of the largest ever to watch the impact of insurance on the number of preventable deaths and the potential to save lives sick children in the United States.
Using more than 23 million records were 30.7 hospital between 1988 and 2005, Johns Hopkins investigators compared the risk of death among children with insurance to those who have not. Other factors being equal, the researchers found that uninsured children in the study were 60 percent more likely to die in hospital than those of insurance. When comparing rates of death from underlying disease, the uninsured appear to be an increased risk of death, regardless of their health. The results reflect only deaths during hospitalization and may not reflect deaths after hospital discharge, or there are children who have died without ever having been hospitalized, according to the researchers, meaning that the number of deaths of uninsured children could be even higher.
"If you're a child without insurance, if you are seriously ill and end up in hospital, 60 percent more likely to die than the sick child in the next room who has insurance," said Principal Investigator Fizan Abdullah, MD, PhD, a pediatric surgeon at the Johns Hopkins Center for Children's.
The researchers emphasize that the study examined the hospital records after death so that he can not establish direct cause and effect between the disease and the risk of dying. However, due to the volume of data and examined the ability of researchers to identify and eliminate most of the factors that usually cloud the research, the analysis shows a strong link between health insurance and the risk of dying, said.
"We can say with absolute certainty that 17,000 children could be saved if they had health insurance? Of course not," said co-researcher David Chang, PhD, MPH, MBA. "The point here is that a considerable number of children can be saved from any health coverage."
"From a scientific perspective, we are confident in our finding that thousands of children died, presumably due to lack of insurance or directly due to factors related to lack of insurance has he added.
As more than 7 million American children in the United States remain among the uninsured struggle of this nation with health care reform, said researchers and policy makers, indeed, society as a whole should pay attention to these findings.
"Thousands of children die needlessly every year because we do not have a health system that gives them health insurance. It should not be," said co-researcher Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD, Director Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins and director of Medical Center for Innovation in Quality Care. "In a country as wealthy as ours, the need to provide health insurance for millions of children who do not consider it a moral, not an economic problem," he added.
In the study, 104,520 patients died (0.47 percent) of 22.2 million hospitalized children insured, compared to 9468 (0.75 percent) died among the 1.2 million uninsured. To find out which of these deaths would be avoided by health insurance, the researchers conducted a statistical simulation by projecting the expected number of deaths for patients insured under the severity of their health status among other factors, and then applied this number is expected to kill and the group is not assured. In the uninsured group, there were 3,535 more deaths than expected, is not explained by severity of illness or other factors. Going further and apply the excessive number of deaths and the total number of pediatric hospitalizations in the United States (117 million) for the period of study, the researchers found an excess of 16,787 deaths among the nearly six million uninsured children who ended up in hospital at the time.
Sources:
Steffie Woolhandler, MD, David Himmelstein, MPH, and Mark Almberg, MD, “Over 2,200 Veterans Died in 2008 Due to Lack of Health Insurance,” Physicians for a National Health Program, November 10, 2009, http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/november/over_2200_veterans_.php.
Amy Goodman, “Mother Speaks Out on Insurance Giant CIGNA’s Denial of Healthcare to Cancer-Stricken Twin Daughters,” Democracy Now!, October 1, 2009, , http://www.democracynow.org/2009/10/1/mother_speaks_out_on_insurance_giant.
Jason Rosenbaum, “Stacie Ritter Lost Everything. CIGNA CEO Ed Hanway Bought Another House,” Health Care for America Now blog, October 1, 2009, http://blog.healthcareforamericanow.org/2009/10/01/stacie-ritter-lost-everything-cigna-ceo-ed-hanway-bought-another-house.
Ryan Grim, “When Getting Beaten By Your Husband Is A Pre-Existing Condition,” Huffington Post, September 14, 2009, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/14/ when-getting -beaten-by-yo_n_286029.html.
Fizan Abdullah, MD, PhD, “Lack of Insurance May Have Figured in Nearly 17,000 Childhood Deaths, Study Shows,” Johns Hopkins Children’s Center news release, November 7, 2009, http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Lack-of-Insurance-May-Have-Figured-In-Nearly-17000-Childhood-Deaths.aspx.
Other findings from the study:
More uninsured children were seen in hospitals in the Northeast and Midwest than in the South and West. However, hospitals from the Northeast had lower mortality rates than hospitals from the South, Midwest, and West.
Insured children on average incurred higher hospital charges than uninsured children, most likely explained by the fact that uninsured children tend to present to the hospital at more advanced stages of their disease, which in turn gives doctors less chance for intervention and treatment, especially in terminal cases, investigators say.
Uninsured patients were more likely to seek treatment through the emergency room, rather than through a referral by a doctor, likely markers of more advanced disease stage and/or delays in seeking medical attention.
Insurance status did not affect how long a child spent overall in the hospital.
The research was funded by the Robert Garrett Fund for the Treatment of Children, and co-investigators in the study include Yiyi Zhang, MHS; Thomas Lardaro, BS; Marissa Black; and Paul Colombani, MD.
Comments