Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
According to this August 2009 link, some studies suggest that 18,000 - 22,000 Americans die a year because of lack of health insurance. But the author of the article also says the methodology of those studies is poor and that, really, health insurance doesn't have a large effect in saving people's lives.
So what do you think? Does health insurance save lives? And if so, does it matter?
Uninsured people are also more likely to be poor. The poor are more likely to not take care of their health. Think about who is uninsured. The poor, the homeless, drug addicts, criminals,... classes of people who don't take care of themselves or are into risky behaviors. I'm not saying everyone who is uninsured is in these groups but many that are in these groups are uninsured so the deck is stacked. Handing many of them insurance would make no difference. How many drug addicts are concerned about going in for preventative care?
I do think we need to do something about people using the emergency room for their only source of medical care simply because that is too expensive to keep doing but I think many of those without insurance wouldn't use it if they had it because of their lifestyle.
My cancer treatment has cost $500,000 and I am only in my mid-20s. If I had not had insurance, I likely would not have pursued treatment: even WITH insurance, I face crippling debt. Insurance saved my life. Charity care is the answer for those who have never walked in our shoes.
Someone please explain how a few sheets of paper in a file drawer save your life.
What saves your life is doctors, nurses, EMT's, lab techs, paramedics, pharmaceuticals, researchers, etc.
Insurance does not "pay" for these things. YOU pay for these things. Insurance is a FINANCIAL product, not health care.
Again, nobody EVER died from a lack of insurance. Ever.
That statement only works when one ignores common sense in favor of being absolutely and totally literal.
Not having access to health care may be responsible for illness and death. Those without health insurance do not have affordable access to health care. Therefore, those without access to health care have increased probability of illness and/or death.
Medicine and the practice of medicine is what saves lives. The two do not intersect.
We clearly inhabit different realities. I feel it's only fair to let you know that in the one I'm stranded in, practitioners of medicine demand financial compensation.
Medicine and the practice of medicine is what saves lives.
This is all true.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pnwmdk
The two do not intersect.
This is not. The type of insurance you have determines the type of care you will get. That isn't to say that insurance saves lives though. People on Medicaid have worse health outcomes than the uninsured once you control for the variables.
So, your insurance company pays the doctors and the hospital that saved your life.
They paid several hundred thousand dollars.
In return for that, how much longer will you live?
You WILL die!
NOBODY "saved your life", they simply delayed your death.
How much will that delay cost your family? How much will it cost Society?
Hopefully, you will spend your remaining years (or months) in comfort, instead of writhing in pain.
good luck.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
