Reuters reports on a new study from Harvard Medical School that finds lack of access to health care kills 45,000 Americans each year:
Overall, researchers said American adults age 64 and younger who lack health insurance have a 40 percent higher risk of death than those who have coverage…
An similar study in 1993 found those without insurance had a 25 percent greater risk of death, according to the Harvard group. The Institute of Medicine later used that data in its 2002 estimate showing about 18,000 people a year died because they lacked coverage.
Part of the increased risk now is due to the growing ranks of the uninsured, [study co-author Dr. David] Himmelstein said. Roughly 46.3 million people in the United States lacked coverage in 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau reported last week, up from 45.7 million in 2007.
Another factor is that there are fewer places for the uninsured to get good care. Public hospitals and clinics are shuttering or scaling back across the country in cities like New Orleans, Detroit and others, he said.
45,000 per year equals one American killed every twelve minutes.
Every twelve minutes.
To put that into perspective, consider this: do you know how many Americans are murdered in a given year? In the most recent year for which mortality data is available from the CDC — 2006 — the answer was: 18,573.
Which is 41% of 45,000.
So the next time somebody asks you what the “big rush” is to reform the health care system, tell them this:
It’s because we can’t afford to wait.
Not even for twelve more minutes.