We’ve all read the articles about how much more likely an uninsured person is to die from a treatable illness, compared with their insured neighbors. Now we have some concrete numbers. Families USA is a national organization for health care consumers, and today they released a very comprehensive state-by-state report showing how many people die in this country because of a lack of health insurance coverage. The report is based on a study done by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences that showed a clear link between being uninsured and dying from treatable or preventable illnesses. In Colorado, we have more than 2.7 million residents between the ages of 25 and 64 (the study only counted “working age” people, and the numbers would obviously be higher if everyone were counted). Nearly 19% of the working age Colorado residents were without health insurance in 2006. And approximately one of them died every day in 2006 because of a lack of health insurance. Check out the report and see how your state looks. Putting a body count on the health insurance problem in this country sure is a sobering way of looking at the big picture.
About Louise Norris
Louise Norris has been writing about health insurance and healthcare reform since 2006. In addition to the Colorado Health Insurance Insider, she also writes for healthinsurance.org, medicareresources.org, Verywell, Spark by ADP, and Boost by ADP, and Gusto. Follow on twitter and facebook.