Representative Heather Wilson: “There are more than 40 million people in America who do not have health insurance who are part of the workforce, despite…”

“There are more than 40 million people in America who do not have health insurance who are part of the workforce, despite widespread private insurance plans, as well as public availability of different kinds of programs in health insurance. These are the same people who are very likely to forego services like periodic checkups and preventive services and immunizations for their kids. They delay going to get health care. And, later, these same people show up in our health care systems with very acute conditions requiring costly medical attention and conditions that may have been entirely preventable with early detection. Uninsured people are hospitalized at least 50 percent more often than the insured are for what are called avoidable hospital conditions, like pneumonia. They wait until the pneumonia gets so bad and they are so sick that they have to go to the emergency room when, if they went earlier, they could have been put on a course of antibiotics and there could have been treatment without hospitalization. They are also much more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage cancer than those with insurance are. People who are uninsured delay going to the doctor until it is too late. Uninsured adults are four times more likely and children five times more likely to use the emergency room compared with the insured.”