Medicare-for-All Saves Lives
It is unconscionable that the wealthiest country in the world has the highest rate of premature deaths that could be prevented through access to health care, when compared with similar countries. Across this and a number of other factors, our fragmented health care system underperforms health care systems in comparable countries. For example, we rank last among other wealthy countries in preventable death for women giving birth and for new mothers. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 60 percent of these deaths could be prevented with proper care. The nearly 28 million Americans who are uninsured face increased risks of poor health and premature death. For every 1 million Americans that are uninsured, an estimated 10,000 Americans will die each year because they lacked access to care. With more than 28 million Americans uninsured, at least 28,000 will die prematurely this year alone because they cannot access the care they need.
What if everyone in the U.S. could access the care they need? Medicare-for-All would improve access to preventative and routine care, allowing treatment of health problems before they become life threatening. It would also improve access to treatment for chronic conditions, which would reduce life-threatening complications of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and other common diseases.
Resources:
- Blog Post: 50 Million Uninsured in the U.S. Equals 50,000+ Avoidable Deaths a Year
- Journal Article: Variations in Amenable Mortality–Trends in 16 High-Income Nations
- News Article: California Decided It Was Tired of Women Bleeding to Death in Childbirth
- Journal Article: The Relationship of Health Insurance and Mortality: Is Lack of Insurance Deadly?
- Journal Article: Healthcare Access and Quality Index Based on Mortality From Causes Amenable to Personal Health Care in 195 Countries and Territories, 1990–2015