Dynamics of People Without Health Insurance
- 5 January 1994
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Medical Association (AMA) in JAMA
- Vol. 271 (1) , 64-66
- https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1994.03510250080040
Abstract
IS THE "problem" of people without health insurance really a problem? Opponents of major health care reform argue no. TheWall Street Journalsays, "[T]he alleged 37 million uninsured also wilts under analysis.... Studies show that 70 percent of them are uninsured for less than nine months."1The Council for Affordable Health Insurance says if everyone were offered a medical savings account, "the numbers [sic] of uninsured could be reduced by as much as 25 million" (from 37 million) because "most (70%) of the uninsured remain without coverage for less than one year."2Statistics that describe dynamics—people moving in and out of a particular condition—can mislead even with the best of intentions. When intentions are not the best, the statistics can totally confuse. I write as one of the researchers who estimated the distribution of uninsured spell lengths that yields the findings that the median spell length isKeywords
This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
- Health insurance and mortality. Evidence from a national cohortPublished by American Medical Association (AMA) ,1993
- Comparison of uninsured and privately insured hospital patients. Condition on admission, resource use, and outcomePublished by American Medical Association (AMA) ,1991
- Uninsured Patients in District of Columbia HospitalsHealth Affairs, 1990