Uninsured 80% More Likely to Die in the E/R

Trauma victims without health insurance are 80% more likely to die in the emergency room than their insured counterparts, even though E/Rs are mandated to treat equally all who come through their doors.

Brutal.

This is based on published research that looked at almost 700,000 patients treated at 1,154 hospitals nationwide between 2002 and 2006. The results are surprising, considering

"...insurance status isn't supposed to be a factor for trauma patients. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, passed by Congress in 1986, guarantees that people brought to emergency rooms get all necessary treatment no matter what kind of insurance they do -- or don't -- have."

Researchers and trauma staff alike are taken aback by the findings, and are searching for possible reasons. We do know that uninsured patients wait longer to see doctors in the E/R and they are given fewer services such as MRIs than insured patients. We don't know if they're in worse physical shape by the time they present as trauma victims, thus making them less likely to recover, or if they are more "passive" in managing their care because they don't interact with the medical system as often. Is there a correlation between type of injury and insured status? Are the hospitals more likely to treat the uninsured also more likely to lack resources needed to successfully treat them?

Sounds like there's a lot more data mining to do, and yet more proof - as if we needed it - that we need healthcare reform YESTERDAY. It's a matter of life or death.

(Photo by Paul Keleher)