It's practically an accepted notion that people without health insurance are well taken care of by public hospitals, and thus many believe there's no need for a national health care plan.

Not so, according to a new study of uninsured Americans nearing retirement.

A major illness such as cancer, stroke, diabetes or a psychiatric disorder will suck up one-third to one-half of the total accumulated assets of uninsured people between the ages of 51 and 64, according to Northwestern University researchers who looked at 14 years of data.<br /> <br /> And they may be underestimating.

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Researchers looked at checking and savings accounts, CDs, and stocks and bonds but didn't figure in job or wage losses. They found that uninsured adults paid $4,176 more for treatment than insured adults in their age bracket with similar illnesses did, according to the study.

More than four million Americans between 51 and 64 are uninsured. That period of life is a prime time for retirement savings. Many people depend on being able to stockpile retirement money once children are educated and gone. With working years limited, people 51-64 have little chance of recouping their losses.

So let's add one more social cost to our lack of a public health care plan: increased poverty and dependency among the elderly.

There is some truth in the idea that public hospitals can take good care of the uninsured. But public hospitals don't care for everyone for free. They bill people. The bills can be enormous, and patients who have any resources at all are expected to pay.

Even if they're unemployed.

Employed people without insurance don't fare well either, even if their wages are so low that they qualify for services. For them public hospital emergency rooms, where patients often must wait many hours, may be the only available care. Who cares if these freeloaders wait?

We all should. Because long, unpredictable hours waiting for the medicine you or your children need can make keeping a job very difficult. That's especially true because the uninsured often work for individuals or small companies that can't afford to have absent workers.

Poverty and dependency among the elderly. Job loss among the working poor. Such problems tax a society, literally and figuratively. Americans who have health insurance and think they've got nothing to gain from a public health plan couldn't be more wrong.


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