Not Maintaining Illinois Medical Insurance Heightens Mortality Risks

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.

In a recently published clinical trial, 1231 patients, suffering from head or neck cancers, were followed from 1998 through 2007 at the Pittsburgh Medical Center. Researchers compared the survival rate of patients, who had health insurance with the uninsured. Out of 128 subjects, who did not have health insurance or were on Medicaid, 50 percent passed away. In contrast, only 22 percent of the patients with insurance 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 extend treatment, it remains unclear whether the higher death rate is attributable to the uninsured obtaining minimal medical care during hospitalization. While there have not been any studies about comparing the death toll of the uninsured to individuals with Illinois medical insurance, the Centers for Disease Control maintains data showing that the rate of Illinoisans not having Illinois medical insurance has been on the upswing for the last decade. The statistics of residents without Illinois medical insurance has been on a steady rise for the past decade.

Meanwhile, heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States. From 1996-2006,the American Heart Association noticed a 33 percent rise in cardiovascular inpatient operations. With close to 15 percent of the Illinois population not having Illinois medical insurance coupled with a high mortality rate of the uninsured, and the emerging number of cardiovascular disease diagnoses, a lack of health coverage forecasts a detrimental outcome.

Illinois medical insurance consultant, Michael Novelli asserts “Despite the fact that cancer and heart disease are not preventable, people with medical coverage are more likely to have an earlier diagnosis, allowing for better medical care. So many managed care Illinois medical insurance plans are economical enough to slow down additional medical casualties.

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