Comparison of Uninsured and Privately Insured Hospital Patients
Condition on Admission, Resource Use, and Outcome
- Jack Hadley, PhD;
- Earl P. Steinberg, MD, MPP;
- Judith Feder, PhD
Abstract
To investigate the association between insurance status and condition on admission, resource use, and in-hospital mortality, we analyzed discharge abstracts for 592 598 patients hospitalized in 1987 in a national sample of hospitals. In 13 of 16 age-sex-race—specific cohorts, the uninsured had a 44% to 124% higher risk of in-hospital mortality at the time of admission than did the privately insured. After controlling for this difference, the actual in-hospital death rate was 1.2 to 3.2 times higher among uninsured patients in 11 of 16 cohorts. The uninsured also were 29% to 75% less likely to undergo each of five high-cost or high-discretion procedures and 50% less likely to have normal results on tissue pathology reports for biopsies performed during five of seven different endoscopic procedures. Our results suggest that insurance status is associated with a broad spectrum of aspects of hospital care.
(JAMA. 1991;265:374-379)
Footnotes
-
Reprint requests to Center for Health Policy Studies, 2233 Wisconsin Ave NW, Suite 525, Washington, DC 20007 (Dr Hadley).
