The Inquisitr » health insurance

Uninsured Daniel Webb sent to La-z-boy to die

Kim LaCapria — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:30:58 +0000

A 33 year-old morbidly obese man with no health coverage was returned untreated to a recliner in his home in March after a knee injury.

Daniel Webb became unable to walk or leave his home after the injury, for which he was unable to receive treatment. Webb’s wife Ada tried to no avail to obtain disability and medical coverage for her husband, who remained in the chair for nearly nine months, covered in sores and human excrement. Webb was removed from the home by EMS workers who had to cut a hole in Webb’s trailer to move his body. He died of cardiac arrest within hours of removal from the chair.

EMS workers have said that Webb weighed between 800-900 lbs, but his wife Ada puts the figure closer to 500 lbs. Ada Webb met her husband on MySpace, and Daniel Webb died on what would have been their second anniversary. While she told press it was the worst anniversary she could imagine, Daniel’s was far better because he was with Jesus. The clip below shows Ada Webb talking to a reporter about the difficulties the Webb family faced in treating Daniel.

[Source]

Study: 17,000 Children Died Because They Lacked Health Insurance

AHN — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:21:45 +0000

Baltimore, MD (AHN) – Researchers from John Hopkins Children’s Center say lack of health insurance might have led or contributed to nearly 17,000 deaths among hospitalized children in the United States over the last twenty years.

The study is one of the largest ever to look at the impact of insurance on the number of preventable deaths and the potential for saved lives among sick children in the United States. The research team used more than 23 million hospital records from 37 states between 1988 and 2005, and compared the risk of death in children with insurance and in those without. Researchers found that uninsured children in the study were 60 percent more likely to die in the hospital than those with insurance.

When comparing death rates by underlying disease, the uninsured appeared to have increased risk of dying independent regardless of their medical condition, the study found.

However, the findings only capture deaths during hospitalization. Researchers did not calculate or analyze deaths after discharge from the hospital, nor did they count children who died without ever being hospitalized. So the real casualty rate could be far higher than the 17,000 deaths published. “If you are a child without insurance, if you’re seriously ill and end up in the hospital, you are 60 percent more likely to die than the sick child in the next room who has insurance,” says lead investigator Fizan Abdullah, M.D., Ph.D., pediatric surgeon at Hopkins Children’s Center.

Another researcher who worked on the study, David Chang, Ph.D. M.P.H. M.B.A. believes that he and his colleagues can’t say with absolute certainty the 17,000 children would have been saved. But, does say, “The point here is that a substantial number of children may be saved by health coverage.”

Currently more than 7 million American children in the United States remain uninsured amid the current health-care reform debate.

Peter Pronovost, M.D., Ph.D., director of Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins and medical director of the Center for Innovations in Quality Patient Care says, “In a country as wealthy as ours, the need to provide health insurance to the millions of children who lack it is a moral, not an economic issue.”

Health Insurance Companies have $4.4 Billion Invested in Tobacco Production

Paul Short — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 20:09:14 +0000

This doesn’t come as much of a shock really, but health insurance companies in Britain, Canada and the U.S. have invested at least $4.4 billion in tobacco companies.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has confirmed that at least $4.4 billion in health insurance company funds are invested in companies whose subsidiaries produce tobacco in the form of cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco.

According to the study, US insurer Prudential Financial has $US264.3 million dollars invested among three US tobacco companies, including Reynolds America and Philip Morris.

Canadian insurer Sun Life Financial, which sells life, disability and health insurance, has a stock portfolio with more than one billion dollars in two tobacco companies, including $US890 million in Philip Morris.

Tobacco is the leading cause of lung cancer as well as a major risk factor for heart attack, stroke, pulmonary disease and other types of cancer. According to the World Health Organisation, it is a contributing factor in 5.4 million deaths a year.

So, all you non-smokers out there, how do you feel about your health insurance premiums being invested in companies that produce products that are slowly killing you?

[Source: News.com.au]

PETA says meat eaters should pay more insurance

Samantha DeWitt — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:01:47 +0000

That wacky mob PETA, fresh from “flouring” Lindsay Lohan in Paris has sent a letter to BlueCross BlueShield health insurance company in Vermont on behalf of their 2 million members asking that health insurance premiums be raised for meat eaters and reduced for vegetarians.

They state that meat eating is linked to some of America’s “deadliest diseases” and that agreeing to this request will result in the company saving money, which we all know PETA cares about.

PETA argues that a a cut in insurance premiums would give people an “incentive” to do without meat and that will make them healthier. The letter also warns of the danger of E coli outbreak. I would be more worried about catching the outbreak of smug, superiority that normally accompanies being a vegetarian and PETA member.

BlueCross BlueShield said that discrimination on the grounds of eating preferences was illegal in every state. They obviously didn’t feel the need to add the bit about how they couldn’t give a crap about what PETA thinks anyway.

Via ecosalon