Do the Uninsured Have Higher Mortality Rates?

DALLAS, TX (Sept. 17, 2009) –  A new study in the American Journal of Public Health claiming that lack of health insurance increases the risk of death by 40% is flawed, according to the National Center for Policy Analysis. http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/2009_harvard_health_study.pdf

“The findings in this research are based on faulty methodology and the death risk is significantly overstated,” said NCPA President John C. Goodman.  “The subjects were interviewed only once and the study tries to link their insurance status at that time to mortality a decade later.  Yet over the period, the authors have no idea whether subjects were insured or uninsured, what kind of medical care they received, or even cause of death.”

“Being uninsured is like being unemployed,” said Goodman.  “It happens to lots of people for brief periods of time.  But most people who are uninsured can get insurance within 12 months.  Were the people in this study uninsured for only a few months?  Or, was it 10 years? Nobody knows.”

A more careful study using a similar approach by former Congressional Budget Office Director June O’Neill found that for low-income people, uninsurance increased the probability of dying by only 3% and for higher-income people uninsurance had no impact on mortality.  http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/06012009_oneill.pdf

“There is a genuine crisis of the uninsured in this country,” Goodman said.   “And, while it is better to have private insurance coverage than no health insurance at all, statistically, patients fare better with no insurance in this country than those who are insured in Canada.”

As a part of a better solution to health reform, the NCPA has produced a five point reform plan: http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/Five_Steps_to_a_
Better_Health_Care_System_Web.pdf

The NCPA is also taking an active role in supporting a petition drive opposing nationalizing health care.  The petition, at http://freeourhealthcarenow.com/, has already been signed by over 1.3 million people.

Editor’s note: Dr. Goodman can speak about the uninsured study results.  Dr. June O’Neill is also available for interviews.

The National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization established to develop alternatives to government regulation by relying on the private sector. Topics include health care, taxes, Social Security, welfare and environmental regulation.