In the midst of the U.S. healthcare debate comes another reason why everyone of us should have basic health coverage. A new study by Harvard University researchers found that uninsured patients with traumatic injuries (such as car crashes, falls and gunshot wounds) were almost twice as likely to die in the hospital as similarly injured patients with health insurance. Taking into account injury severity, race, gender and age uninsured patients were still 80% more likely to die than those with insurance, including Medicaid. It’s shocking and unclear just why the uninsured fare worse in terms of ER care, since it’s largely assumed – and federally mandated – that all unstable patient receive equal care in ERs. One reason this might occur is that private hospitals can transfer uninsured patients to public hospitals once patients are stable. A transfer could then worsen a patient’s condition by delaying treatment. The findings are based on an analysis of data from the National Trauma Data Bank, which includes more than 900 U.S. hospitals. [via New York Times]
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Dr. Steven Chang, the author of DailyDose, is a staff physician with Kosmix RightHealth. Dr. Chang practices Family Medicine at the University of California Davis Medical Center, where his medical interests include both pediatric and geriatric care, public health, gay and lesbian health, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chang trained at the Stanford University affiliated O'Connor Hospital, and was a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He holds an M.D. from McGill University and a BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.