Uninsured health improves when eligble for Medicare at age 65

[pickledpepperRN]

HEALTH COVERAGE IMPROVES HEALTH AND REDUCES MAJOR HEART COMPLICATIONS

FINDINGS:

A 12-year study of over 7,000 Americans shows that individuals without health insurance experience a dramatic improvement in their subsequent health trends when they become eligible for Medicare at age 65.

... Individuals with continuous coverage did not report a significant change in their health as they transitioned to Medicare, but those who had little or no prior coverage reported substantial improvements in their health trends.

The impact of coverage was greatest for those with a history of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, or diabetes. Participants with these conditions who lacked insurance experienced a steeper decline in health compared to their insured counterparts prior to age 65.

But after five years of Medicare coverage this health gap closed by 50 percent. ...

http://hms.harvard.edu/public/news/12_25Ayanian.html

[pickledpepperRN]

An American Cancer Society study found "substantial evidence that lack of adequate health insurance coverage was associated with less access to care and poorer outcomes for cancer patients," as the "uninsured were less likely to receive recommended cancer screening tests and more likely to have their cancers diagnosed at a later stage, when they are less curable.”

In addition, the study found that they "had lower survival rates than those with private insurance for several cancers for which there are screening tests and effective treatments, including breast and colorectal cancer.”

Report Links Health Insurance Status With Cancer Care: http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/content/NWS_1_1x_Report_Links_Health_Insurance_Status_With_Cancer_Care.asp

Entire study: http://caonline.amcancersoc.org/cgi/content/full/CA.2007.0011v1

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

The Commonwealth fund has a similar report at their website...

[pickledpepperRN]

No Insurance, Poor Health

The case for providing health coverage for all Americans got even more compelling in the past week when two new studies presented the most comprehensive evidence yet that the lack of health insurance is seriously harmful to a patient’s health. The studies found that uninsured people suffer significantly worse outcomes from cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer than those who have coverage.

One study by researchers at Harvard Medical School, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that uninsured near-elderly people got sicker at a faster rate than comparable people with insurance. Those disparities were sharply reduced when people turned 65 and became eligible for Medicare….

… A second study, by researchers at the American Cancer Society, found substantial evidence that lack of adequate health insurance coverage was associated with less access to care and poorer outcomes for cancer patients. The uninsured were less likely to receive recommended cancer screening tests and more likely to have their cancers diagnosed at a later stage, when they are less curable….

… The two studies leave little doubt that health improves when people gain insurance coverage. That coverage should be available to all Americans.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/opinion/03thu3.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[MBANurse]

You know why the democrat party put the retirement age at 65 for SS and then medicare? You weren't supposed to live that long... or much longer after that anyways...

I guess healthcare has come a long ways after all

[Simplepleasures]

You know why the democrat party put the retirement age at 65 for SS and then medicare? You weren't supposed to live that long... or much longer after that anyways...

I guess healthcare has come a long ways after all

HEY!!! Who said my Democrats did that?:angryfire Just for that I am now officially a Republican.

[MBANurse]

HEY!!! Who said my Democrats did that?:angryfire Just for that I am now officially a Republican.

It was done with the new deal; which was FDR... and then under Johnson with Medicare... demoncrats...

btw... I am not really a republican either... they spend to much too.