People Live Longer With Health Insurance

I read a news report about a Harvard Study that ( for me ) reduces the debate on a National Health Program to it's simplest terms. Simply put, people with insurance live longer than people without insurance. That sounds obvious, and most folks probably wouldn't need an expensive research program to come to the same conclusion. But think for a moment what that means to the National Health-care debate.

If Health Insurance doesn't add days to my life, why would I ever buy the stuff? I of course buy health insurance because I do believe it adds days, if not years to my life. Others may buy it to get those 'feel good' drugs that are so expensive, and others may buy it so they can afford a doctor to write excuses to their employer for missing work. But those, and many other reasons for buying insurance seem trivial when compared the basic assumption that insurance should allow us to live longer.

From the article;

"For any doctor ... it's completely a no-brainer that people who can't get health care are going to die more from the kinds of things that health care is supposed to prevent," said Woolhandler, a professor of medicine at Harvard and a primary care physician in Cambridge, Massachusetts... more ... "

The National Health Program is in favor of a National Health Program. It's study was challenged by the National Center for Policy Analysis which backs a free market solution to the problem. Noticeably absent from the news article was any challenge by that critic on the conclusions of the study. I believe that critics are forced to challenge the methods of the study itself, because they absolutely do not want the debate to focus on a citizens right to life, or the insurance industry's assumed responsibility to extend that life as they are payed to do.

Ask yourself why a major think-tank would ever argue against a study that says Insurance Companies extend life. If more experts come out with evidence that health insurance extends life, will other think tanks challenge those studies too?

Do you assume that the health insurance you pay for extends your life? I would hope so, I do. And I'm not really comfortable with those who would argue against that assumption, on any level. But I would like to know who they are, and if they really have my best interests at heart.

From the Article;

Nearly 45,000 people die in the United States each year -- one every 12 minutes -- in large part because they lack health insurance and can not get good care, Harvard Medical School researchers found in an analysis released on Thursday.

If you don't believe the health insurance you pay for extends your life, then what are you paying for? Happy pills?

I would really like to hear anyone argue that Health Insurance doesn't extend life.