March 12, 2008

No insurance causes Oregon deaths, says new consumer report

By SARAH SKIDMORE
Associated Press writer

PORTLAND — On average, one working-age Oregonian dies each day due to lack of health insurance, according to a report released Wednesday by the health care consumer group Families USA.

The study builds on earlier national reports done by the Institute of Medicine and the Urban Institute that found thousands of people in America die each year as a result of being uninsured.

Studies show people without health insurance are more likely to delay seeking medical care, become sicker and die earlier than people with insurance.

The state-by-state analysis estimates the number of adults between the ages of 25 and 64 in Oregon who died as a result of no health insurance was nearly 1,900 between 2000 and 2006.

“It’s important to understand and document the consequences of lack of health coverage, it’s more important that we do something to assure people get the health care they need,” Dr. Bruce Goldberg, who heads Oregon’s Department of Human Services, said in a statement.

Dr. Evan Saulino, a Portland family physician, said the report reflects the reality he sees regularly at some safety-net clinics.

One of his patients, whose family request her name be withheld, had delayed seeking treatment until her health insurance coverage kicked in at a new job.

Eventually the symptoms became too much and she came to his office. She had kidney cancer.

The treatment was cost-prohibitive. She struggled to get financial assistance or other help and wasn’t able to start treatment until two weeks before her death.

When filling out the patient’s death certificate, Saulino says he wanted to write
“lack of health insurance” or “lack of financial resources” on the cause of death line.

“Every year of inaction by policymakers is literally a matter of life and death for hundreds of Oregonians,” Maribeth Healey, executive director for advocacy group Oregonians for Health Security.

Families USA said it is rolling out the results of other states in the analysis and although that is not complete, Oregon is not expected to be an anomaly.