The authors of this new study did not specifically look at the health consequences of their lack of insurance or the lack of access to proper medical care, but it is reasonable to assume that these two factors could lead to many medical complications. Dr. Andrew Wilput, an instructor in medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle and a fellow at Harvard Medical School while the study was being conducted, said,This is something that is very true in my clinical experience. The uninsured can't get in to see the doctor, they miss medications, their blood pressure is out of control and, really, you see devastating consequences."
Another expert agreed that the lack of insurance along with someone who has a chronic illness could be a combination that is potentially lethal. Dr. Oliver Fein, the president-elect of Physicians for a National Health Program and a professor of clinical medicine and public health at Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University in New York City, said, "These people are going to end up with complications of their illnesses prematurely. They will be disabled early. They will probably die younger. It is a major public health disaster....Longer-term, there will be expensive admissions to hospitals, usually through the emergency department, due to diabetes out of control and congestive heart failure because of hypertension."
The number of Americans that do not have insurance is approximately 47 million in 2006, which is up from 31 million in the year 1987 is plentiful information. However, what has been less clear in the study is how many individuals suffer from a chronic illness, although some, including the policymakers, have suggest that many of the people are healthy.
The data came from interviews with almost 12,500 people that were between the ages of 18 and 64 who had participated in the National Health and Nutritional Survey. From this information, the authors concluded that approximately 11.4 million of the working-age Americans with at least one out of seven chronic medical conditions did not have any health insurance.
These people included 15.5 percent out of the 38.2 million with hypertension, 7.8 million with cardiovascular disease, 16.6 million out of the 8.5 million with diabetes. Some other conditions that were examined include high cholesterol, previous diagnosis of cancer, asthma, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Wilper said that they found some pretty big differences when they compared uninsured people with on of these seven conditions with people who were insured with one of the conditions. Approximately 26 percent of the people who did not have insurance reported no standard site of care, versus the 6.2 percent of the people who did have insurance. More than 22 percent of the people who were uninsured reported that they had not been to see a physician within the last year and 7.1 of those uninsured with a chronic illness report that the emergency room was their main site for medical care. The 6.2 percent of the people with insurance did report that they had seen a physician within the last year and only 1.1 percent of those went to the emergency room for medical care.
Wilper stated that the conditions listed are ones that they can take care of in a clinic. Physicians know that they can prevent complications that are disabling or catastrophic if they are able to manage the conditions. Greg Scandlen, the founder and the director of Consumers for Health Care Choices, an advocacy group for health-care consumers that is non-profit, said that none of the findings are surprising. It is interesting that we are finding that chronic conditions are shown to be more common among the people with insurance than ones without, although, that is not surprising either. The people that suffer from a chronic condition are more likely to place a higher value on their insurance coverage and they will work harder to get it and keep it. Scandlen added, "But having insurance is not likely to prove to be a panacea for these folks....People with chronic conditions who are insured are not doing so well, either. We do not do a very good job of delivering chronic care in this country for anyone."
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