No insurance, poor health

[Guest guest]

No Insurance, Poor HealthPublished: January 3, 2008The case for providing health coverage for all Americans got even more compelling in the past week when two new studies presented the most comprehensive evidence yet that the lack of health insurance is seriously harmful to a patient’s health. The studies found that uninsured people suffer significantly worse outcomes from cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer than those who have coverage.One study by researchers at Harvard Medical School, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that uninsured near-elderly people got sicker at a faster rate than comparable people with insurance. Those disparities were sharply reduced when people turned 65 and became eligible for Medicare. Those who previously had insurance reported no significant change in their health as they transitioned to Medicare, but those with little or no prior coverage reported a substantial slowing of the decline of their health. It was strong proof of the value of Medicare’s universal coverage for elderly Americans. (more...)http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/opinion/03thu3.html?ref=opinion Sears, DCNW PDX