Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

Cambridge Study: Millions of ‘Uninsurable’, Pt.3 -- The main breakdown figures.

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Of the approximate 34.2 million working-age Americans (that is, between18 and 64 years of age) with no health insurance, about one out of every three are chronic cases (about 33%). This 34.2 million figure is a subset of the total 47 million Americans with no health insurance, as reported by figures based on 2006 results from our US Census Bureau. The number may be higher, today. In addition, even these experts warn us that the survey results have a probability of being underestimated figures, due to the exclusion of factors like chronic depression or mental illnesses pertaining to those without health insurance.

Another point of caution is the that the problem tends to mask itself because so many of these people without health insurance are foregoing treatment, that a large number are expected to have not been diagnosed as of yet. Now for some big numbers…like the 11.4 to 19 million chronic patients without health insurance as far back as 2004. These are non-elderly Americans. Again, this was confirmed by the team of at physicians coming from both CHA (Cambridge Health Alliance) and from the Harvard Medical School. The data that they used was complied from surveys, issued from the National Center for Health Statistics. Here was the breakdown:

•  1.3 million were survivors of either a heart attack or a stroke.
•  5.9 million were high blood pressure cases.
•  1.4 million were diabetes patients.
•  3.5 million were diagnosed with asthma or emphysema.
•  The rest: Other serious ailments like prior major cancer cases (though, not minor skin cancers) or things like high cholesterol.

The criteria used were that each person has, at least one of these a chronic illness.

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