| By :
Wiley Long
The outcome of the lawsuit to challenge the Affordable Care Act may derail the state-run exchanges. Without these exchanges, will we continue to leave 45,000 people to die from lack of medical care every year? The Department of Finance and Administration is still planning the exchanges that are to be up and running by 2014. It's hoped that the Tennessee exchange will help individuals and families move from the ranks of the uninsured to the protected even though they cannot get health insurance in Tennessee through employment. Tennessee Health Insurance Is A Lifesaver Having that coverage or not is quite literally a "life and death" situation. While former Pres. Bush is quoted as saying that everyone has health care - they can go to the emergency room, he left out what happens when you go to a hospital and you don't have health insurance. According to hospital records around the nation, children and adults admitted to hospitals died more often if they did not have insurance. For children who were admitted for a variety of causes, they were 60 percent more likely to never leave the hospital alive if they lacked insurance than a child in the next room. For adults, the death ratio was lower, but it still spanned a range of reasons for being admitted. National Trauma Bank records show people who were hospitalized without insurance died at a 25 percent higher rate than insured people with similar injuries, even in the same hospitals. Several different studies ruled out that uninsured patients were dying more often because they were going to substandard hospitals. Is Constitutionality As Important As Morality? Opponents of the new law say, "The federal health-care act is a significant threat to the Constitution." Should we be more worried about a threat to an idea, even if it is a great idea such as those expressed in our Constitution, or should we be more troubled by the threat to the lives of the people living under that Constitution? When you have to go to the hospital, I'll bet you're not worried about the Constitution. Justice Department attorneys argue that the requiring minimal coverage is covered by the Constitution's Commerce Clause, and that gives Congress power to regulate business crossing state borders. It maybe an interesting legal exercise, but what really counts in our daily lives is whether we'll make it through a life-threatening illness or injury. Is Health Insurance In Tennessee A Right? Whether the powers that be help you to get affordable health insurance or not remains to be seen. However, you may be able to help yourself more than you realize. Certain forms of health coverage are generally less expensive than full-coverage insurance. You can find health insurance for Tennessee with deductibles over $10,000 that carry lower premiums than standard policies. Research studies have mainly compared death rates between the uninsured and the insured, so any form of health insurance at all may reduce your chances of dying once admitted to a hospital. If that's not an option, you might consider moving to a state that established health care reform even before the Affordable Care Act passed. Four state governments took it upon themselves to protect citizens with health care, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Utah and Washington.
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