Washington, D.C. — Four people die each week in West Virginia because they don’t have health insurance, says a new report by Families USA, the national organization for health care consumers.
The Families USA report, the first-ever state-specific report of this type, is based on a groundbreaking national study by the Institute of Medicine, which in 2002 forged the direct link between a lack of health coverage and deaths from health-related causes.
“Our report highlights how our inadequate system of health coverage condemns a great number of West Virginians to an early death simply because they don’t have the same access to health care as their insured neighbors,” Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA, said today. “The conclusions are sadly clear—a lack of health coverage is a matter of life and death for many West Virginians.
“Health insurance really matters in how people make their health care decisions,” Pollack said. “We know that people without insurance often forgo checkups, screenings, and other preventive care.”
As a result, he said, uninsured adults are more likely to be diagnosed with a disease, such as cancer, in 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.
Another recent academic study found that uninsured adults between the ages of 55 and 64 are even more likely to die prematurely. For this group, a lack of health insurance is the third leading cause of death, following heart disease and cancer.
The Families USA report for West Virginia makes three specific points about uninsured adults:
* Families USA estimates that four working-age West Virginians die each week due to lack of health insurance (approximately 210 people in 2006).
* Between 2000 and 2006, the estimated number of adults between the ages of 25 and 64 in West Virginia who died because they did not have health insurance was nearly 1,500.
* Across the United States, in 2006, twice as many people in that same age category died from a lack of health insurance as died from homicide.
“This report clearly shows that the benefits of health care reform won't be measured in dollars and cents alone, but in the number of lives saved through having health insurance,” U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) said today. “There is nothing more important to me than making sure that every West Virginia family has access to quality and affordable health insurance.
“Everyone in our state deserves the peace of mind that comes with knowing they can see a doctor for preventative care or treatment when they're sick and be able to afford life-saving medicines so they can get better,” Rockefeller said.
In its 2002 report, the Institute of Medicine estimated that 18,000 adults nationwide died in 2000 because they did not have health insurance. That estimate was later updated by the Urban Institute, which reported that at least 22,000 adults died in 2006 due to a lack of health insurance.
