OT: He fit in very well...

[Alan Baker]

...with you wingnuts:

'“That line is so indefensible,” [Idaho Republican Representative]
Labrador said. “Nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care.”'

<http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/article149013339.html>

'FACT CHECK: HAS ANYONE DIED?

The ongoing dispute over whether to fill the so-called Medicaid gap in
Idaho has brought forward stories of people who actually died because of
the lack of access to health care.

The story of Jenny Steinke, a woman from Idaho Falls, has been
frequently cited in Idaho. Steinke died at age 36 from an asthma attack
after her condition had gone untreated for years because she couldn’t
afford health insurance, according to the (Idaho Falls) Post Register.'

And:

'Some studies cited by the foundation looked at what happened to
patients once they were hospitalized:

▪ A 2009 study published in the Journal of Public Health found a 60
percent higher mortality rate among uninsured American children in the
hospital.

▪ A study published in 2011 in the American Journal of Respiratory and
Critical Care Medicine concluded that “the uninsured have a higher
mortality and receive fewer procedures when compared with privately
insured patients treated at the same hospitals.”

▪ A 2010 study in The American Journal of Surgery hypothesized that
insurance coverage wouldn’t affect the outcomes of patients with blunt
and penetrating traumas, such as car crash injuries and gunshot wounds.
But the researchers concluded that insurance coverage was actually “a
potent predictor” of how well a patient would do. They found a higher
death rate among uninsured patients.

A frequently cited study published in 2009 in the American Journal of
Public Health found a 25 percent higher risk of death among uninsured
compared with privately insured adults. The researchers calculated
44,789 deaths among Americans age 18 to 64 in a single year that they
said were tied to lack of health insurance.

“The uninsured have a higher risk of death when compared to the
privately insured, even after taking into account socioeconomics, health
behaviors and baseline health,” the study’s lead author, Dr. Andrew
Wilper, said at the time. “We doctors have many new ways to prevent
deaths from hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease — but only if
patients can get into our offices and afford their medications.”'

But wait: the Idaho Statesman must be a left-wing, fake news site...

...right?

:-)