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Results of a recent Harvard study show that approximately 45,000 people die in the U.S. each year primarily because they lack health insurance. That's one death every 12 minutes.

Researchers also concluded that American adults below the age of 65 face a 40 percent higher risk of death if they lack coverage.  These findings, along with the latest U.S. Census Bureau report that 46.3 million people lacked health insurance coverage in 2008, emphasize the urgency of Congress's current efforts to pass legislation that will expand access to health care.

Dr. David Himmelstein, a co-author of the study and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard, pointed out that daily more Americans are dying "because of inaction ... than drunk driving and homicide combined."  Other authors emphasized that lacking insurance increases the likelihood of dying from complications from preventable diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes.

Wade Henderson, president and CEO of LCCR, was a featured speaker at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's 2009 Annual Conference yesterday.

In his speech, Henderson explained why health care is a pressing civil and human rights issue, emphasizing the racial and economic disparities in health care.  He also talked about the role federal health care legislation can play in expanding access to health care, legislation that the civil rights community is currently working to get Congress to pass.

"When people lack access to quality and affordable healthcare, a medical emergency can bankrupt a family. As long as families face this danger, they have no economic security. Without access to quality and affordable healthcare, chronic medical problems can prevent a worker from changing or keeping jobs and advancing at work, which destroys equal employment opportunity. Without access to quality and affordable health care, poor health can keep a child out of school, which denies that child educational opportunity," said Henderson.  "[A]ccess to health care – and the federal policies that affect it – are woven into the fabric of civil rights, economic empowerment, and social justice."

Read the full speech.

Nearly one in three young adults ages 19-29 is uninsured, making this demographic the most underinsured of any age group, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The coverage that children and teens receive under their parents’ health insurance plans or through Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) typically ends at 19 or 23 if they are enrolled in college.  Young adults are also less likely than other older adults to have access to employer-sponsored insurance because they tend to work jobs that are entry-level, low-wage, and often temporary.

In light of this information, Rock the Vote launched a new campaign yesterday to "educate young people about their stake in the health care debate." In this ad, actors Zach Braff and Donald Faison use humor to urge young adults to join the debate and demand that Congress act to provide greater access to health insurance.

Civil rights groups are opposing a provision in the Senate Finance Committee's health care reform bill that will give employers an incentive to discriminate against minorities, low-income people, and people with disabilities.

The "free rider" provision requires employers of firms with 50 or more employees who do not offer health coverage to pay the average subsidy cost per person for all employees who are eligible for a subsidy and who purchase coverage in the new health care plan.  Employees whose family income is below about $67,000 for a family of four qualify for a subsidy. But employers would not have to pay for employees with higher family incomes.

The provision creates a powerful incentive for employers to fire – or not to hire – the very people that health care reform is supposed to help.  For instance:

• Employers will have an incentive to hire a woman whose spouse has health insurance coverage for her family, instead of hiring an uninsured single mother of two who qualifies for the new government insurance subsidy.
• Employers will have an incentive to lay off employees who receive the subsidy, because it will save the business even more on labor costs.
• Employers will have an incentive to avoid recruiting at community colleges, historically black colleges and universities, and minority-serving institutions to reduce applications from people likely to need health subsidies.
• Employers will have an incentive not to hire people with disabilities who don't have the option of going without coverage because of their conditions.

"We all agree that Congress has a very important and complex task in passing legislation to give every American access to quality, affordable health care. In doing so, however, Congress has a special obligation to make sure that the legislation does not harm the most vulnerable in our society who need the benefits of health care reform the most," said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.  "We urge the Senate Finance Committee to change this provision."

More information about the provision.

Nearly seven million Americans, primarily people in working families, will lose their health coverage by the end of 2010 if no major policy changes take place before then, according to a new report by Families USA, (PDF) a progressive health care advocacy group. In 2007, the year with the latest available figures, the Census Bureau found that the nearly 46 million people do not have health insurance.

The report said that the nation's health care crisis has deepened due to sharp increases in unemployment rates, overwhelmed employers, and struggling families trying to keep pace with rising health insurance premiums. According to the report:

• Average annual family health insurance premiums rose by 119 percent between 1999 and 2008, from $5,791 to $12,680;
• Employers offering any health care coverage at all from 2000 to 2008 declined by 6 percent;
• An estimated 2.3 million people are losing their coverage each year, or more than 190,000 a month.