Multiple Study Findings on Uninsured Levels, Hospital Error Rates Confusing But Focus Should Stay on Improving Health System, PRI’s Inlander Says

Varying reports about the number of people without health insurance and the rate of hospital medical errors may leave the public "baffled," but regardless of "who has got it right," the numbers are "appalling," Charles Inlander, a consumer advocate and president of the Pennsylvania-based People's Medical Society, said in his weekly "Second Opinion" commentary on Public Radio International's "Marketplace." Inlander noted that the U.S. Census Bureau in August adjusted its figures for the number of people without insurance in 1999 from about 43 million to about 39 million. In addition, new research indicates that hospital error rates are lower than estimates of up to 98,000 made by the Institute of Medicine in a 1999 report. Inlander said, "The news media seem to think that these multiple findings are of major concern. I disagree. We all should know by now that researchers can often come to different conclusions from the very same data and that many studies can shed light on the very same problem." Inlander added, "No matter what the numbers are, we must improve our health care system. Surveys come and they go. So-called medical facts change almost as quickly as a person's pulse. While it is important to be as accurate as possible in evaluating how well or poorly our health care system is working, few argue it is working well. Why would we want to settle for anything less than a system where everyone is insured and egregious medical mistakes are a problem of yesteryear?" (Inlander, "Marketplace," PRI, 10/4).