Study: Lack of insurance plays role in mortality

I have no doubt that individuals without health insurance have a higher death rate than those that pay for their insurance; they should!

America was founded on freedom of choice and the individuals that have elected not to pay for health insurance have made that decision. Obviously, there are individuals below the poverty line that cannot afford care and state Medicaid provides for their services. However, what this article and the healthcare debate conveniently brushes over are the countless individuals that would rather allocate their income to cable TV, fast food, cigarettes, alcohol, drugs... than pay for healthcare insurance. How many of these non-insured individuals get any regular exercise? Walking and running are still free! How many individuals are also morbidly obese? Let's dig in deeper to the issue before we start discussing providing healthcare for those individuals who choose not to pay for their own healthcare when they can or worse off, those that choose not to take care of their bodies at all.

The healthcare system isn't the major problem; the personal selections that individuals make are the problem. Start living your life like you give a damn and positive things will come!

When are they going to publish the results of the increased mortality to Americans since the BBA 1997, the Medicare Residency Demonstration Project 1998-2003, and the SGMRP, all which dramatically decreased primary care and specialty physician. The Physician Surplus theory of the mid 1990's was one of the most costly errors. Research by SHI and others and testimony by the past president of the ACP place the estimate by the Society of Patient Centered Orthopedics at 127,000 lives per year. What do you think the odds of getting a government grant to investigate this?

Again, the importance of framing the debate is evident in this article - we should NOT make insurance the centerpiece of the debate and of our efforts. We need to shove insurance to the side and concentrate on our TRUE CONCERN: healthcare!

We give the insurance industry entirely too much power and say over our economy and our lives. The media and Congress just don't have the guts or the will-power to point that out, let alone to advocate for or develop concrete plans for correcting the unhealthy condition in which the insurance industry (together with Wall Street) has put our healthcare delivery system.

The Baucus Bill is a weak plan with lipservice to bipartisanship. It takes two to play and the Republicans are sitting this one out, sadly. If they are true Christians, they should be asking themselves: “What would Jesus do? Would He support the ordinary citizens or the moneylenders and big business?”

We should be encouraging people like Senator Jay Rockefeller, Bill Moyers, and Howard Dean to lean on the Senate Finance committee to fix the Baucus plan now and to educate anyone in Congress who has an open mind and who cares about our economy and health!

Interesting, but perhaps not that surprising. Does or could the study analyze the lifestyles of the population of the "uninsured"?

While I'm sure there would still be some disparity in mortality rates - i.e. due to inability to afford, and therefore not get, care that is needed...
How many of the 44,789 are working?
How many are drug addicts, prostitutes, etc.?
How many could work, but choose not to - why? How many work, but choose to have no insurance?

The answers to these questions might provide deeper insight on the topic.

It is about time the average person gets a break. Bush allowed the upper 1% to have 8 years of breaks and tear down an economy so the average person would be broke. Time for the insurance companies to give back what they have stolen.

Did anyone notice that this data was collected between 1988 and 1994. Any chance we could find some more current data?