In The New York Times, Roni Caryn Rabin reports:
Uninsured Americans often have difficulty getting care and paying for medications. But what happens once they are admitted to a hospital with a life-threatening illness?
A new study finds that even after they have heart attacks or strokes and are admitted to hospitals, the uninsured are more likely to die than those who carry private insurance. A gap persisted even after the researchers adjusted for disparities in the patients’ underlying health, socioeconomic status and other factors.
And:
One reason, Dr. Hasan suggested, may be that patients who have trouble getting care may have more advanced disease. “We know for a fact that people who are uninsured delay seeking care,” he said, adding, “Stroke and heart attack are a result of things that happen to the body and the blood vessels over many years.”
And, of course, more advanced disease and more complicated treatment means more expense, too.
Read the article here.
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