"Universal Healthcare would have saved 212,000 lives and $459Billion in 2020, study says"

[applegrove]

Last edited Fri Dec 6, 2024, 07:34 PM - Edit history (1)

Here is the study:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219793682#post6



https://bsky.app/profile/leonstink.bsky.social/post/3lcm3zqkmss2q

"Universal Healthcare would have saved 212,000 lives, $459Billion in 2020, study says"

[tenderfoot]

1. Not to quibble but that's just a screenshot of the headline and no link to the source

eom

[Abolishinist]

3. I think you SHOULD quibble.

I'm getting REALLY tired of clicking on an OP that sounds interesting and finding it to be a dead end.

[WarGamer]

5. NOT ONLY A DEAD END... BUT FREQUENTLY BS

[Celerity]

8. here is the study

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219793682#post6

[Celerity]

7. I brought it back to life.................

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219793682#post6

[Orrex]

23. Number four will drop your jaw! (nt)

[Celerity]

6. here

Universal healthcare as pandemic preparedness: The lives and costs that could have been saved during the COVID-19 pandemic

Alison P. Galvani [e-mail], Alyssa S. Parpia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9083-1929, Abhishek Pandey, +6, and Meagan C. Fitzpatrick Authors Info & Affiliations

Contributed by Burton H. Singer; received January 12, 2022; accepted April 22, 2022; reviewed by David Fisman and Brian Wahl

June 13, 2022

119 (25) e2200536119

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2200536119

https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2200536119

Significance

The fragmented and inefficient healthcare system in the United States leads to many preventable deaths and unnecessary costs every year. Universal healthcare could have alleviated the mortality caused by a confluence of negative COVID-related factors. Incorporating the demography of the uninsured with age-specific COVID-19 and nonpandemic mortality, we estimated that a single-payer universal healthcare system would have saved 212,000 lives in 2020 alone. We also calculated that US$105.6 billion of medical expenses associated with COVID-19 hospitalization could have been averted by a Medicare for All system.

Abstract

The fragmented and inefficient healthcare system in the United States leads to many preventable deaths and unnecessary costs every year. During a pandemic, the lives saved and economic benefits of a single-payer universal healthcare system relative to the status quo would be even greater. For Americans who are uninsured and underinsured, financial barriers to COVID-19 care delayed diagnosis and exacerbated transmission. Concurrently, deaths beyond COVID-19 accrued from the background rate of uninsurance. Universal healthcare would alleviate the mortality caused by the confluence of these factors. To evaluate the repercussions of incomplete insurance coverage in 2020, we calculated the elevated mortality attributable to the loss of employer-sponsored insurance and to background rates of uninsurance, summing with the increased COVID-19 mortality due to low insurance coverage. Incorporating the demography of the uninsured with age-specific COVID-19 and nonpandemic mortality, we estimated that a single-payer universal healthcare system would have saved about 212,000 lives in 2020 alone. We also calculated that US$105.6 billion of medical expenses associated with COVID-19 hospitalization could have been averted by a single-payer universal healthcare system over the course of the pandemic. These economic benefits are in addition to US$438 billion expected to be saved by single-payer universal healthcare during a nonpandemic year. Despite spending more on healthcare than any other country, both overall (1) and on a per capita basis (2), the United States does not provide universal healthcare, resulting in preventable deaths and excessive costs (3). In 2019, prior to the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), over 28 million adults were uninsured, an increase of 2.2 million from 2016 (4).

Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the public health, economic, and moral repercussions of widespread dependence on employer-sponsored insurance, the most common source of coverage for working-age Americans. Business closures and restrictions led to unemployment for more than 9 million individuals following the emergence of COVID-19 (5, 6). Consequently, many Americans lost their healthcare precisely at a time when COVID-19 sharply heightened the need for medical services. With over 973,000 reported deaths attributed to COVID-19 as of 14 March 2022, the United States represents 16% of the documented worldwide mortality burden of the virus (7), while only composing 4% of the global population (8). Inadequate health insurance coverage has exacerbated the COVID-19 pandemic on both individual and population levels. At the individual level, concerns over medical expenses delay diagnosis and treatment (9), elevating case fatality rates (10). At the population level, postponement of diagnosis, and thus of case isolation, fuels transmission. In addition, fear of losing employer-sponsored health insurance during a pandemic may make it untenable for people to miss work even when they feel unwell. We quantify the financial benefits and lives saved if the United States had provided universal healthcare coverage to all individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. As proposed by the Medicare for All Acts of 2019 (11) and 2021 (12), a major feature of such reform would be elimination of the high deductibles and copays that currently make medical services unaffordable even among many who are nominally insured (13).

Ramifications of Pandemic-Driven Unemployment for Health Insurance Coverage.

While stay-at-home orders and temporary closures of nonessential businesses curbed the immediate spread of COVID-19 and prevented catastrophic demands on hospital capacity (14), the measures also led to spikes in unemployment. For employees, a layoff often results in insurance loss or the need to switch to a different type. To determine the changes in coverage by insurance type over the course of 2020, we combined data on monthly Medicaid/Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollment (15), monthly employment (16, 17), and employer-sponsored health insurance plan participation rates (18), as well as insurance exchange enrollment during both the standard (19) and special enrollment periods (20). We calculated the difference in insurance enrollments for each month of 2020 compared to December 2019, the final month prior to pandemic disruptions. In March 2020, employment dipped slightly, followed by a steep drop in April, precipitating a loss of 14.5 million employer-sponsored insurance enrollments compared to December 2019 (Fig. 1A). Employment gradually rebounded but remained below its December 2019 level throughout 2020.

Insurance enrollment, excess deaths, and years of life lost during the pandemic year 2020: (A) Monthly estimated enrollment in employer-sponsored insurance (green) and reported enrollment in Medicaid/CHIP (orange). (B) Monthly total enrollment in all insurance types (blue) compared with total enrollment in any insurance type in December 2019 (black). (C) Monthly excess deaths among those below age 65 due to pandemic-driven insurance loss between March and August 2020. (D) Years of life lost in each month between March and August 2020 due to pandemic-driven insurance loss.

snip

[niyad]

22. Thank you for this timely reminder. Timely for me, because I was just

thinking this afternoon, as I walked past my in-store pharmacy, how much simpler and better at least some things during the pandemic would have been if everybody knew the vaccine was covered, the testing was covered, care was covered. Instead, we had the nightmare.

[applegrove]

13. Guy writes for Fierce Healthcare.

https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/fiercehealthcarecom/about-us

Dave Muoio.

[Celerity]

18. he's just a journo, I put up the actual peer-reviewed study that was published in PNAS, a world class scientific journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

https://www.jstor.org/journal/procnatiacadscie

PNAS is the world's most-cited multidisciplinary scientific serial. It publishes high-impact research reports, commentaries, perspectives, reviews, colloquium papers, and actions of the Academy. In accordance with the guiding principles established by George Ellery Hale in 1914, PNAS publishes brief first announcements of Academy Members' and Foreign Associates' more important contributions to research and of work that appears to a Member to be of particular importance.

https://www.nasonline.org/about-the-nas/organization/

The National Academy of Sciences was established in 1863 by an Act of Congress, signed by President Lincoln, as a private, nongovernmental institution to advise the nation on issues related to science and technology. Members are elected by their peers for outstanding contributions to research. Dr. Marcia McNutt is president.

The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences to bring the practices of engineering to advising the nation. Members are elected by their peers for extraordinary contributions to engineering. Dr. John L. Anderson is president.

The National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) was established in 1970 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences to advise the nation on medical and health issues. Members are elected by their peers for distinguished contributions to medicine and health. Dr. Victor J. Dzau is president.

The National Research Council was established by presidential Executive Order in 1916 to expand the expertise available to the NAS in fulfilling the mission of its Congressional charter. Today, the three Academies work together as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation and conduct other activities to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions. The National Academies also encourage education and research, recognize outstanding contributions to knowledge, and increase public understanding in matters of science, engineering, and medicine. This statement by the NAS Council affirms the organization’s core principles of objectivity, independence, and excellence.

[applegrove]

19. Thanks for the study.

[choie]

2. And how many would they let die?

n/t

[Celerity]

9. 'Universal Healthcare', not UnitedHealthcare

[dchill]

28. As many as it takes/they can.

It's a frothy mix of greed and cruelty.

[Abolishinist]

4. So says Leon Stink, an Elon Musk Parody account.

Oh, and it was made 2-1/2 years ago, referring to a study from the year 2020.

[Celerity]

10. Maura -resister ‪@maurar.bsky.social‬ was the OP, Leon Stink just re-Blued it

and here is the study:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219793682#post6

[Celerity]

11. you should have posted the study, instead of relying on posters like me to come in and white knight the OP

[applegrove]

14. You are correct. Sorry.

[Silent Type]

12. Don't doubt people died uninsured. Not sure about saving $450 B.

Last edited Thu Dec 5, 2024, 11:43 PM - Edit history (1)

Not that I’d care if we spent billions on care.

[Celerity]

20. U.S. health care spending grew 4.1 percent in 2022, reaching $4.5 trillion, and increased to 4.8 trillion USD in 2023

https://www.cms.gov/data-research/statistics-trends-and-reports/national-health-expenditure-data/historical

U.S. healthcare spending rises to $4.8 trillion in 2023, outpacing GDP

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-healthcare-spending-rises-48-trillion-2023-outpacing-gdp-2024-06-12/

[Silent Type]

21. Still confused about $450 B savings in Report. HC spending has exceeded GDP growth in

almost every year since at least 1980.

[Voltaire2]

29. One major reason our healthcare is stunningly more expensive than other developed nations

is that we rely on a for-profit system. In addition, many people avoid preventive care simply because it is expensive at the point of service.

[eppur_se_muova]

25. Oh, so we'd have saved less than 10% ? Big deal ! {SARCASM} nt

[Skittles]

15. but they are not INTERESTED in "savings"

they are interested in PROFIT

[Karasu]

16. Now imagine how much and how many lives it would've saved over the last 4 years alone.

[onecaliberal]

17. But that is actual government efficiency, and we cannot have that.

[Celerity]

24. It also occurs via the removing of the profit-extracting, wealth extracting/transferring middlemen, ie private, for

profit insurance leeches, and also the for-profit hospitals and clinics of all manner, plus the for-profit (far beyond a normal salary labour cost) doctor firms, the big pharma conglomerates, etc etc.

The entire US for-profit heathcare system is the biggest wealth extraction, wealth transferring (from the broad, massive base moved up to the tiny top of the pyramid) scheme and scam in human history.

[Passages]

26. Yes. Lobbyists are the only reason we don't have it.

Citizens United is killing us.

Just think how much less pain Americans would have experienced if we had what most want when they are sick....a chance to get well again.

Instead, they can lose their home.

[Blue Full Moon]

27. Rob Portman of Bush jr administration

Director of Office of Management and Budget. Found out that most people don't live to retire. And that Healthcare was the biggest thing that was causing it. So his great plan that was implemented. Was that all companies could just reduce payments for pensions by 25%. Keep the money because the workers were going to die anyway.

[Vinca]

30. How many lives would it have ended from denying coverage??

[ThreeNoSeep]

31. comment deleted by the person who posted it.