In  2001, the Institute of Medicine estimated that more than 18,000 Americans between the ages of 19 and 64 died annually because of a lack of health insurance. That number has been cited throughout this debate on healthcare reform. However, a new study set to be published in the December issue of the American Journal of Public Health by leading researchers at Harvard Medical School finds that statistic woefully underestimates the true mortality rate. The report, "Health Insurance and Mortality in U.S. Adults," reveals that the uninsured have a 40 percent higher risk of death than those with private insurance. Their conclusion is simply stunning.

Lack of health insurance is associated with as many as 44,789 deaths per year in the United States, more than those caused by kidney disease (n=42,868). The increased risk of death attributable to uninsurance suggests that alternative measures of access to medical care for the uninsured, such as community health centers, do not provide the protection of private health insurance. Despite widespread acknowledgment that enacting universal coverage would be life saving, doing so remains politically thorny. Now that health reform is again on the political agenda, health professionals have the opportunity to advocate universal coverage.

44,789 preventable deaths. Previous studies have long suggested that uninsurance is associated with a higher mortality rate.  However this new Harvard study finds that the estimate for annual deaths attributable to uninsurance among working-age Americans is more than 140% larger than previous figures.