NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Hospitalized children who lack health insurance are more likely to die than those who have coverage, a large U.S. study finds.
Using data on more than 23 million child hospitalizations between 1988 and 2005, researchers found that children without insurance were 60 percent more likely to die than those with either private or government insurance coverage.
They estimate that lack of insurance directly contributed to nearly 17,000 children's deaths over 18 years.
The findings, reported in the Journal of Public Health, do not prove cause-and-effect. But the increased risk was there even after the researchers accounted for demographics like race and neighborhood income levels, as well as the child's diagnosis and any co-existing health problems.
The results also suggest that "pre-hospital factors," at least some of which could be related to lack of insurance, account for the higher risk of death, explained lead researcher Dr. Fizan Abdullah, an assistant professor of pediatric surgery at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore.
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On average, insured children's charges totaled roughly $21,000, while uninsured children averaged $8,000. And while uninsured children were typically in the hospital less than one day, those with insurance were there for a full day.
But this is not, Abdullah said, because hospitals were refusing to treat the uninsured children.
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Instead, uninsured children who died likely got to the hospital later than their insured counterparts, after their condition had deteriorated significantly. "These kids died before the hospitals could provide medical care," Abdullah said. "They literally never had a chance to treat them."
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