Don’t Have a Heart Attack Without Insurance
(Or don’t have insurance and still report financial problems with paying for care.)
- a lower quality of life
- higher risk for having to be hospitalized again
- higher risk for having to be hospitalized for heart problems again
- higher risk of having angina at 1 year out
RESULTS: The prevalence of self-reported financial barriers to health care services or medication was 18.1% and 12.9%, respectively. Among individuals who reported financial barriers to health care services or medication, 68.9% and 68.5%, respectively, were insured. At 1-year follow-up, individuals with financial barriers to health care services were more likely to have lower SAQ quality-of-life score (77.9 vs 86.2; adjusted mean difference= –4.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], –6.3 to –1.8), and increased rates of all-cause rehospitalization (49.3% vs 38.1%; adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 1.3; 95% CI, 1.1-1.5) and cardiac rehospitalization (25.7% vs 17.7%; adjusted HR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.0-1.6). At 1-year follow-up, individuals with financial barriers to medication were more likely to have angina (34.9% vs 17.9%; adjusted odds ratio, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.1-2.2), lower SAQ quality-of-life score (74.0 vs 86.1; adjusted mean difference = –7.6; 95% CI, –10.2 to –4.9), and increased rates of all-cause rehospitalization (57.0% vs 37.8%; risk-adjusted HR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.2-1.8) and cardiac rehospitalization (33.7% vs 17.3%; adjusted HR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.3-2.2).
Err…yeah.
If you pay more for medical care (pay for medical insurance, that is), you SHOULD have better outcomes. You should have a better quality of life, with less angina. Just think if you paid all that money for insurance and had the same outcome as the guy who paid nothing. What a bummer that would be.
This article has a high DUH factor.
Hey, I want to know how, if they are uninsured, they have a greater risk of being re-hospitalized? Kind of counterintutive and it seems to be implying that lack of health insurance is not a barrier to high quality medical care. It certainly isn’t where I work where everybody gets the whole enchilada whether they can pay or not.
I have never not admitted somebody because they didn’t have insurance.
I’d say this study proves the opposite of it’s intent, namely that the poor, lazy, and stupid do, in fact, have access to health care. Hell, those government cheese-eating motherfuckers are getting more hospital face time than a guy with insurance.
It certainly isn’t where I work where