Uninsured More Likely to Die after Trauma, According to Researchers

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Uninsured Americans are more likely to die after a trauma-related hospital visit than those who are insured. According to a new study, lack of health insurance may cause an extra 18,000 deaths in America each year.

Experts say the risks and casualties of being uninsured are growing too high to overlook. Uninsured adults have a 25 percent increase of mortality than those insured, according to the study conducted by Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School. Researchers say reasons for the discrepancy may be due to treatment delay for the uninsured, difference in care, such as fewer diagnostic tests, or a lower rate of health literacy. Researchers also question if there is a difference in care during the hospital stay, being that treatment is often started prior to determining payment status.

"Even after admission to a hospital, trauma patients can have worse outcomes based on insurance status," the authors were quoted as saying. "This concerning finding warrants more rigorous investigation to determine why such variation in mortality would exist in a system where equivalent care is not only expected but mandated by law."

The study analyzed the records of 687, 091 trauma patients in the National Trauma Data Bank. Factors studied included demographic, medical history, injury severity, outcomes and charges. Patients studied were between 18 and 30 years old and were chosen because they were less likely to have additional illnesses.  

Authors of the study note that in 2007, 45.7 million Americans were uninsured.

SOURCE: Archives of Surgery, JAMA, November 2009

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