On Tuesday, September 30 at 8PM, the award-winning PBS series P.O.V. will premiere a new documentary called “Critical Condition” which looks at the problems facing individuals and families without health insurance.
Nearly 47 million Americans, including 8 million children, currently do not have health insurance. The Institute of Medicine estimates that nearly 50 people die each day because they are uninsured and cannot get the medical care they need.
Here in Louisiana, figures from the Kaiser statehealthfacts.org study shows that 24% of all non-elderly adults and 52% of the adults living below the poverty level are uninsured. That’s 546,000 uninsured adults which ranks Louisiana 47 in the nation in uninsured adults. Another 64,000 children are uninsured bringing the total number of uninsured Louisiana residents under the age of 65 to 610,000 residents. The percentage of uninsured children has dropped more than 7% in the past few years, mainly due to the LaCHIP federally funded insurance program for children.
Many of the uninsured get their only healthcare from the state’s charity hospital system, many times in the emergency rooms of the hospitals and clinics.
The Public Affairs Research Council has a report on its recommendations for improving the state’s healthcare system. Thanks to David Hood of PAR for providing this report. PAR Report (pdf)
Uninsured Facts has more including:
• The Public Policy Research Lab on Louisiana’s Uninsured Population, A Report from the 2007 Louisiana Health Insurance Survey (pdf)
and
• Five Basic Facts on the Uninsured (click for extended information in pdf format)
