Every year, nearly
45,000 people die from lack of health insurance and good medical
care, Harvard University researchers have reported.
“We’re losing
more Americans every day because of inaction . . . than drunk driving
and homicide combined,” said Dr. David Himmelstein, co-author of
the study and an associate professor at Harvard.
About 46.3 million
people in the United States lacked coverage in 2008, up from 45.7
million in 2007.
A similar study in
1993 found that 18,000 die every year from lack of health care. The
increase in deaths reflects the growing number of uninsured and the
declining number of places that provide health care for the
uninsured. Public hospitals and clinics have been shuttering or
scaling back. Without a single-payer health system, these numbers are
likely to get worse. A private system, with a motive of maximizing
profits rather than treating people in need, will continue to fail
poor and working-class people, who are most likely to lack health
insurance.
