Yesterday’s The New York Times reported on a study conducted by Johns Hopkins Children’s Center showing the impact the lack of insurance has on children’s health outcomes. Most likely, uninsured children are more likely to die because they are denied timely treatment.
Although the research was not set up to identify why uninsured children were more likely to die, it found that they were more likely to gain access to care through the emergency room, suggesting they might have more advanced disease by the time they were hospitalized.
In addition, uninsured children were in the hospital, on average, for less than a day when they died, compared with a full day for insured children. Children without insurance incurred lower hospital charges — $8,058 on average, compared with $20,951 for insured children.
"Johns Hopkins study finds uninsured children more likely to die"
That makes sense….otherwise why bother with insurance?