Families USA: lack of health care kills 68 per day

[soflorattler]

By SCOTT WHIPPLE

According to a report released Thursday by a nonprofit consumer group, failure to enact health care reform this year will lead in the next decade to about 1,700 premature deaths of people between 25 and 64 years old in Connecticut.

Ron Pollack, executive director of Washington, DC-based Families USA, said 2,100 people have died prematurely between 1995 and 2009 because of a lack of health insurance.

At the national level, the Families USA report, “Lives on the Line: The Deadly Cost of Delaying Health Reform,” warns that the number of deaths would grow from 68 a day in 2010 to 84 a day in 2019.

The report also found that:

- in the 15-year period since the nation last debated health reform, more than 294,000 American adults (25 to 64 years old) died prematurely due to a lack of health coverage,

- uninsured adults are 25 percent more likely to die prematurely than adults with private health insurance,

- uninsured Americans between age 55 and 64 are at much greater risk of premature death than their insured counterparts.

This makes the lack of insurance the third leading cause of death for the near-elderly, following heart disease and cancer.

The report quantifies these deaths as “needless.” While thousands of families feel the pain of this loss, the ongoing tragedy is too often invisible to the general public.

“When people witness a tragic event that leads to multiple deaths, we raise our voices in indignation, and the nation rallies in response,” Pollack said. “We cry out for investigations. We seek causes. We call for swift punishment for the guilty, and removal of the inept. Yet, unseen, thousands will die needlessly and prematurely over the next decade because our terribly flawed health care system excludes these ordinary Americans.”

Meriden-based Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut was quick to react to the report. Calling report findings “a stark reminder” that consequences of not fixing a broken health care system are too great to ignore, the foundation’s Acting President Frances Padilla said, “We’ve all known for far too long that spiraling health care costs are crippling Connecticut families and businesses. This report paints a grim picture of the human cost we face if we fail to fix the system.”

“Passing national reform not only will save lives but will put Connecticut at a competitive advantage,” he said, referring to passage last year of health care reform legislation called SustiNet.

The new state law promises to provide an affordable public health insurance choice and make quality, affordable health care a reality for everyone in the state.

“Having insurance coverage improves health outcomes and reduces and eliminates racial and ethnic disparities in access to quality care,” Padilla said.

Despite foundation advocacy, some business organizations in the state oppose universal health care.

In fact, Andrew Markowski, state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, has warned that organized labor and other universal health-care advocates have targeted Wal-Mart stores nationwide.

According to business group, ultimately all businesses will need to provide health care for their employees or pay a tax.

[soflorattler]

The cost of doing nothing on health care

By Reed Abelson

New York Times


"Hands off my health care" goes one strain of populist sentiment.

But what if?

Suppose Congress and President Barack Obama fail to overhaul the system now, or just tinker around the edges, or start over, as the Republicans propose — despite the Democrats' latest and possibly last big push that began last week at a marathon televised forum in Washington.

Then "my health care" stays the same, right?

Far from it, health policy analysts and economists of nearly every ideological persuasion agree. The unrelenting rise in medical costs is likely to wreak havoc within the system and beyond it, and pretty much everyone will be affected, directly or indirectly.

"People think if we do nothing, we will have what we have now," said Karen Davis, the president of the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit health care research group in New York. "In fact, what we will have is a substantial deterioration in what we have."

Nearly every mainstream analysis calls for medical costs to continue to climb over the next decade, outpacing the growth in the overall economy and certainly increasing faster than the average paycheck. Those higher costs will translate into higher premiums, which will mean fewer individuals and businesses will be able to afford insurance coverage. More of everyone's dollar will go to health care, and government programs like Medicare and Medicaid will struggle to find the money to operate.

Policymakers, in the end, may be forced to address the issue.

"It will break all of our banks if we do nothing," said Peter V. Lee, who oversees national health policy for the Pacific Business Group on Health, which represents employers that offer coverage to workers. "It is a course that is literally bankrupting the federal government and businesses and individuals across the country."

Even those families that enjoy generous insurance now are likely to see the cost of those benefits escalate. The typical price of family coverage now runs about $13,000 a year, but premiums are expected to nearly double, to $24,000, by 2020, according to the Commonwealth Fund.

While some employers will continue to contribute the lion's share of those premiums, there will be less money for employees in the form of raises or bonuses.

"It's also cramping our economic growth," said Frank McArdle, a consultant with Hewitt Associates, which advises large employers and reported on the need for change for the Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs at major companies. Spending so much on health care is "really a waste of people's money," McArdle said.

The higher premiums will also persuade more businesses, especially smaller ones, to decide not to offer insurance. More people who buy coverage on their own or are asked to pay a large share of premiums will find the price too high. It doesn't take too many 39 percent increases, like the recent one proposed by Anthem Blue Cross that has garnered so much attention, to put insurance out of reach.

While estimates vary, the number of people without insurance is expected to increase by more than a million a year, said Ron Pollack, the executive director of Families USA, a Washington consumer advocacy group that favors the Democrats' approach.

There will be a cost in lives, too. Pollack's organization estimates that as many as 275,000 people will die prematurely over the next 10 years because they do not have insurance.

[Bison66]

Makes you wonder:

Is good health a "family value"?

Does "pro-life" mean support for health insurance for all?

 

[Cholly]

People, mostly white and middle income (though poor whites are not immune), just DO NOT GET IT. 

[uchighlander]

These "woe is me " stories are fine but please answer a few questions if you don't mind.....

Who is going to pay for these 30 million new patients?

Where are the new doctors going to come from to serve these new patient?

How many more people will die each day because of health care rationing or delays in treatment?

No name calling please. Don't respond if you can't answer the question.

GO VIKINGS!!!

[Cholly]

^^^See, what the low information, WILLFULLY ignorant, hyperpartisan cod'dlingers on the right FAIL to consider is the fact that we are ALL paying for those un/under insured people anyhow.   

NONE of the things it mentioned in its' right-wing talking point post is even REMOTELY relevent in the real world; unfortunately it's too ignorant of the facts to know that. 

[uchighlander]

^^^See, what the low information, WILLFULLY ignorant, hyperpartisan cod'dlingers on the right FAIL to consider is the fact that we are ALL paying for those un/under insured people anyhow.   

NONE of the things it mentioned in its' right-wing talking point post is even REMOTELY relevent in the real world; unfortunately it's too ignorant of the facts to know that. 

You can't read can you Cholly? GO VIKINGS!!!

[Cholly]

No uchi; if you were a thinking man, then you'd know that I just ignore irrelavent bleatings.

And SINCE you have NO intention of educating yourself on the TRUTH of Health Care provision, malpractice insurance rates AFTER tort reform is enacted, the cost of Emergency Room primary care provision, and the actual number of health  care providers in this Country, I suggest you keep your ignorant and incorrect right-wing bullet points to yourself.

[uchighlander]

No uchi; if you were a thinking man, then you'd know that I just ignore irrelavent bleatings.

And SINCE you have NO intention of educating yourself on the TRUTH of Health Care provision, malpractice insurance rates AFTER tort reform is enacted, the cost of Emergency Room primary care provision, and the actual number of health  care providers in this Country, I suggest you keep your ignorant and incorrect right-wing bullet points to yourself.

In other words.....you can't answer the questions. GO VIKINGS!!!

[Bison66]

These "woe is me " stories are fine but please answer a few questions if you don't mind.....

Who is going to pay for these 30 million new patients?

Where are the new doctors going to come from to serve these new patient?

How many more people will die each day because of health care rationing or delays in treatment?

No name calling please. Don't respond if you can't answer the question.

GO VIKINGS!!!

Whoa!!!!!
Hold up a minute, highlander!!!

You're asking questions, but have several pending questions directly to you in other threads.

We're still using y04's standard:  There will be no line jumping.

You answer, THEN I'll answer.

 

[Cholly]

In other words.....you can't answer the questions. GO VIKINGS!!!

Obviously not, uchi; at least not to YOUR satisfaction. Because I KNOW the truth of the situation. I won't repeat the factually incorrect, B.S., bogus right-wing talking points you and other right wing cod'dlingers IGNORANTLY swill down without either critical thought or critical inquiry.   

[Cholly]

Yeah; just like I thought.

Even if the right-wing wannabe Lugomen who infest this on-line community WERE to look up the facts they'd STILL just ignore them and continue to MINDLESSLY parrot right-wing talking points.

They are intellectually dishonest and morally corrupt. They selfishly put their own personal self interests... or what they THINK are in their self interests... over the good of everyone else, INCLUDING them.

In other words: there is NO point trying to have a logical conversation with deliberately ILLOGICAL people.

[uchighlander]

These "woe is me " stories are fine but please answer a few questions if you don't mind.....

Who is going to pay for these 30 million new patients?

Where are the new doctors going to come from to serve these new patient?

How many more people will die each day because of health care rationing or delays in treatment?

No name calling please. Don't respond if you can't answer the question.

GO VIKINGS!!!

Whoa!!!!!
Hold up a minute, highlander!!!

You're asking questions, but have several pending questions directly to you in other threads.

We're still using y04's standard:  There will be no line jumping.

You answer, THEN I'll answer.

 

Give me time...I'll answer them....we still have a deal. On the other hand Cholly won't or can't answer my questions. GO VIKINGS!!!

[Ken]

Well the reason why hospital costs are so high ($300 for a pack of sutures, $90 for asprin) is because they make only 4 cents on the dollar and lose a lot a money taking care of the uninsured and poor without insurance. The only way they will make that up is to charge high rates for services.  People who have health insurance don't feel the pain, but when they lose it , they join the chorus.  You can bet your bottom dollar when those insurance rates rocket up and the boss won't give a raise because of expenses, and your health premiums soar and services decline, they too will join the club--it is just a matter of time.

[uchighlander]

Yeah; just like I thought.

Even if the right-wing wannabe Lugomen who infest this on-line community WERE to look up the facts they'd STILL just ignore them and continue to MINDLESSLY parrot right-wing talking points.

They are intellectually dishonest and morally corrupt. They selfishly put their own personal self interests... or what they THINK are in their self interests... over the good of everyone else, INCLUDING them.

In other words: there is NO point trying to have a logical conversation with deliberately ILLOGICAL people.

Tell me Cholly....how does putting the interests of 30 million people over 190 million people fit in to your " over the good of everyone else" comment? Don't you have it backwards? GO VIKINGS!!!