(Tony Auth via GoComics.com)
From the Boston Globe:
The groundbreaking Massachusetts health insurance law may have prevented about 320 deaths a year, according to a Harvard study of the legislation that was used as a model for President Obama’s national health program.
The researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, in a study published Monday, estimated that the law, which expanded coverage to most residents, has saved about one life for every 830 people who enrolled in health insurance…
During the four years after Massachusetts implemented the 2006 law, death rates in the state dropped by nearly 3 percent among young and middle-age adults compared with similar populations in states that did not expand coverage, the researchers concluded…
The researchers compared the changes in death rates in Massachusetts with what happened in counties across the country with comparable populations — with similar ages, socioeconomic status, and health insurance rates before 2006 — that were located in states that had not expanded insurance coverage. The mortality rates in those counties remained unchanged during the time period during which they fell in Massachusetts.
Elderly adults in Massachusetts, who mostly have Medicare coverage, also experienced no significant drop in their death rates compared with other states. This finding, in contrast to the death-rate decline among younger adults who were mostly likely to gain coverage, “suggests to us that health reform was the likely explanation,” Sommers said.
Adding strength to the finding was a larger drop in deaths due to preventable causes, such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and infections, compared with deaths that would not have been affected by health insurance, such as those caused by accidents, suicides, or acts of violence. The researchers found nearly a 5 percent decrease in the death rate for preventable causes…
Or, as one of the first Globe commentors tongue-in-cheeked it, “GOP spin: ACA Increases Social Security Costs by 3%!”