15 Responses to 2,266 Veterans Die Because They Are Uninsured

1. nonplussed November 11th, 2009 at 7:28 am «

   The figure will be higher as soon as Kent Conrad and his merry little band have their way! The axe will soon fall on those filthy entitlements of which VA Benefits is one, along with Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

   We simply cannot raise taxes on the rich, that one percent that has more of our Nation’s wealth than the bottom 90%, perhaps it has something to do with the fact that 217 members of Congress are Millionaires and therefore members of that one percent?

   We must have Fiscal Discipline! Pete Peterson, the Billionaire, has demanded that these poor people toe the line and suck it up! The Cato Institute, AEI, and Heritage Institute are in solid agreement.

   They carry through, I will be strongly inclined to show them just what I learned in the Military. The “Bonus Army” redux, but this time we will know better…
• SouthernDragon November 11th, 2009 at 4:18 pm «

  Count me in. My grampa was a Bonus Marcher.
2. Leen November 11th, 2009 at 8:29 am «

   Jason glad you used this

   Leen November 10th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
   5

   Jason/all check this one out
   Study: 2,200 Vets Died Last Year Because They Lacked Health Insurance

   On the eve of Veterans Day, a team of researchers from Harvard Medical School has released a study finding that an estimated 2,266 veterans under the age of 65 died last year because they did not have health insurance. That “translates to six preventable deaths per day” and more than twice the number killed in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001.

   Being uninsured raises a person’s odds of dying by 40 percent. The researchers found that 1.46 million veterans between the ages of 18 and 64 lacked insurance in 2008. While most veterans are eligible to receive excellent care from the Veterans Administration, those who were not injured in combat and whose income is above a certain threshold are often ineligible. Others are assigned low priorities, providing them with less consistent and more expensive access to care:

   http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/10/vets-study-deaths/
• Jason Rosenbaum November 11th, 2009 at 9:04 am «

  Yep! Thanks for pointing it out!
3. fuckno November 11th, 2009 at 3:47 pm «

   A Nation is only as good as it’s leadership.

   If you don’t disagree, – what are you going to do about it?

   Vote for leaders, not Corporate poodles next time around.
4. Funnydiva2002 November 11th, 2009 at 3:52 pm «

   Thank you, Nahant and Jason, for highlighting this.
   Today of all days.

   Maybe some of us could “spotlight” this to KO, and email the link to Rachel Maddow? I certainly plan to, fwiw.

   FunnyWheelieDiva
5. maggiesboy November 11th, 2009 at 4:12 pm «

   I can understand the VA assigning low priorities to veterans with incomes above the threshold or who have private insurance, but not if they were that sick and not covered. No insurance should be a high priority for vets who don’t have service connected conditions.

   Meanwhile the CDC allows bailed out Wall St banks to get H1N1 vaccines while front-line healthcare workers are still waiting to get theirs. Who cares about having trained professionals well enough to care for the sick? Wall Streeters must be healthy so they can spend their fucking bonuses.

   God is it getting hard to maintain…..
6. Eureka Springs November 11th, 2009 at 4:15 pm «

   For shame, America.
7. KarenM November 11th, 2009 at 5:12 pm «

   This story should be the headline piece every where today.

   Thanks for posting about here again. Repetition works.
8. selise November 11th, 2009 at 5:46 pm «

   here is the link to the researcher’s press release and some quotes from it (my bolds): Harvard researchers say 1.46 million working-age vets lacked health coverage last year, increasing their death rate

   A research team at Harvard Medical School estimates 2,266 U.S. military veterans under the age of 65 died last year because they lacked health insurance and thus had reduced access to care. That figure is more than 14 times the number of deaths (155) suffered by U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2008, and more than twice as many as have died (911 as of Oct. 31) since the war began in 2001.

   The researchers, who released their analysis today [Tuesday], pointedly say the health reform legislation pending in the House and Senate will not significantly affect this grim picture.

   Dr. David Himmelstein, the co-author of the analysis and associate professor of medicine at Harvard, commented, “On this Veterans Day we should not only honor the nearly 500 soldiers who have died this year in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also the more than 2,200 veterans who were killed by our broken health insurance system. That’s six preventable deaths a day.”

   He continued: “These unnecessary deaths will continue under the legislation now before the House and Senate. Those bills would do virtually nothing for the uninsured until 2013, and leave at least 17 million uninsured over the long run. We need a solution that works for all veterans – and for all Americans – single-payer national health insurance.”
9. Funnydiva2002 November 11th, 2009 at 5:59 pm «

   Yay! KO is on this one tonight.
   FWDiva
10. lambertstrether November 11th, 2009 at 6:28 pm «

    Thanks, Selise.

    Jason using the Harvard Study to imply that his health insurance reform will save veterans lives, when the study itself says that it won’t, is even more disgusting behavior than usual.

    It isn’t so much I mind Jason being a shill — with a paid “progressive” access blogger, that’s par for the course — but he’s just so shameless about it. I mean, a real pro would try a little misdirection, but not our Jason. He just throws the link out there, assuming nobody will check him.
11. bayville November 11th, 2009 at 7:37 pm «

    Jason, the study you cite explicitly endorses a single-payer system as the only way these veterans can obtain suitable healthcare..
    I’m a little shocked, but pleasantly surprised, at your sudden advocacy for a Single-Payer system…
    For the sake of the troops, support Single-Payer.
• Jason Rosenbaum November 12th, 2009 at 7:10 am «

  I was striving to present facts without bias here. Notice I didn’t advocate for any health reform plan on the table. Folks should click through and read the full study to draw their own conclusions.
12. WestCoast November 12th, 2009 at 10:29 am «

    The article goes on to say that Dr. David Himmelstein, is the co-author of the analysis and associate professor of medicine at Harvard.

    He is also a member of PNHP (Physicians for a National Health Program)… therefore is there any reason you would not expect his (or the “research teams”) findings to be so dire??

    This is an editorial piece disguised as “research”.