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Not Having Illinois Medical Insurance Raises Mortality Risks

Filed Under (General) by Holly Bentz on 08-03-2010

Not having Illinois medical insurance can be a life and death situation. While the health insurance reform bill dangles, more data supports the potential for a higher death toll among the uninsured. From developing cancer, heart disease to suffering from a traumatic injury, evidence portends that being without Illinois medical insurance is merely a fatal proposition.

A study of 1231 patients, recovering from head or neck cancers from 1998 through 2007 at the Pittsburgh Medical Center evaluated the survival rate of patients, who were uninsured to the insured. One hundred and twenty eight patients, who were on Medicaid or were without health insurance perished, illustrated a fifty percent survival rate. By comparison, 22 percent of the patients with medical coverage perished.

Similar mortality discrepancies were noted among individuals suffering from traumatic injuries. Physicians and researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School collected statistics from the National Trauma Data Bank, which has a compilation of 2.7 million patients admitted to trauma centers throughout the United States. Evaluating data from 2002 and 2006, researchers looked at 687,091 adult patients admissions. The data showed a significant correlation in the death rate of the uninsured patient versus the insured. Researchers tried to modify the data to reduce the impact of race, age and gender; however, the statistics maintained a higher mortality rate among the uninsured. Even more curious, individuals on Medicare showed a comparable survival odds to patients covered by a private health insurance policy.

Researchers compared the mortality rate of 29,829 patients admitted at the Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma and Critical Care, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center from 1998 to 2005. Uninsured patients accounted for 68 percent of the patients. Again, the data among the non-insured younger, less severely injured had a higher death rate than the insured counterparts.

Although hospitals provide treatment, it is undetermined whether the difference in medical care occurs during hospitalization. Even without any specific clinical trials comparing the death toll of the uninsured to individuals with Illinois medical insurance, the Centers for Disease Control has data suggesting that the rate of Illinoisans not having Illinois medical insurance has been spiking for the last decade.

In the interim, cardiovascular disease maintains its status as a leading killer United States. The American Heart Association made note of a 33 percent escalation of cardiovascular inpatient operations from 1996 to 2006. Given the emerging rate of cancer, heart disease diagnoses, a lack of health coverage foretells a fatal outcome.

Illinois medical insurance agent, Michael Novelli says “Although cancer and heart disease are not preventable, people who have health insurance are more apt to catch and treat these conditions sooner than the uninsured. Many managed care Illinois medical insurance plans are affordable enough to prevent further medical casualties.

IllinoisLifeandHealth.com provides complementary Illinois medical insurance quotes, advice and a wealth of information about Illinois medical insurance. Bookmark the site for the latest news, resources and no obligation quotes, online.

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