A report published this week by Families USA, the national organization for health care consumers, estimates that between 18,000 and 22,000 adults aged 25-64 die each year in the U.S. because they lack insurance.

The Families USA report, named “Dying for Coverage,” says people without health insurance are more likely to delay seeking care because of the high bills, which means disease such as cancer are diagnosed at a later, more deadly stage.

“Our report highlights how our inadequate system of health coverage condemns a great number of North Carolinians to an early death, simply because they don’t have the same access to health care as their insured neighbors. The conclusions are sadly clear - a lack of health coverage is a matter of life and death for many North Carolinians. Health insurance really matters in how people make their health care decisions. We know that people without insurance often forgo checkups, screenings and other preventive care,” Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA said quoted by Medical News Today.

According to the Institute of Medicine, uninsured adults are 25 percent more likely to die prematurely than adults with private health insurance. Approximately 47 million U.S. people lack health insurance.

The report estimates more than 6,100 Illinois residents between the ages of 25 and 64 died between 2000 and 2006 because they lacked health insurance. During the same timeframe, more than 1,600 in this group died in Wisconsin and more than 800 in Iowa.

Pollack does not recommend a specific solution to increase insurance “but clearly this is an issue that deserves increased attention.”

The report is “a wake-up call” as Connecticut Democratic U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro named it. Moreover, it highlights the idea that the government should do something to help people who lack health insurance so they weren’t exposed to such health threats. Unfortunately, this is a very hard goal to achieve, according to U.S. Rep David Price (D-NC).

“Finding a way to achieve universal coverage should be one of our nation’s top priorities. But we in Congress are still facing a White House roadback even with our bipartisan effort to expand health care for needy children. We are well past partisanship on this issue. The President and his backers need to get with the program and support children’s health care and other efforts to get Americans Insured,” Price said.

More information are available at www.familiesusa.org.