All eyes are on the U.S. Supreme Court, as the nation awaits its landmark ruling on the Affordable Care Act.
A new report by Washington, DC,-based Families USA, focuses on how many people die due to a lack of health insurance. Ron Pollack, Executive Director of the organization, said the wait for affordable health care coverage can't come fast enough for thousands of uninsured Americans.
"In North Carolina, in 2010, we estimate that over 930 people who are uninsured died because of a lack of health insurance. That occured because people who don't have health insurance usually defer care. They don't get checkups, they don't get tests, and with the onset of pain or a health problem they don't go to a doctor or a hospital," said Pollack.
And nationally, according to the study called "Dying For Coverage: The Deadly Consequences of Being Uninsured," more than 26,000 people died in 2010 due to a lack of health care coverage.
In March 2010, Congress passed The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Later that month, President Barack Obama signed the contoversial legislation.
The law establishes a series of reforms over several years, including banning insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, forbidding insurers from setting a dollar limit on health coverage payouts, and requiring them to cover preventative care.
It also states that beginning in 2014, an individual mandate requires people to have health insurance, either through their employers or a state-sponsored exchange. If they don't, they will be fined.
In North Carolina, health care experts estimate about 1.6 million people, or almost one in five state residents, don’t have health insurance.
Pollack is a former law school dean who has argued cases in the Supreme Court. He said he believes the new health care law will stick.
"If the Court followed constitutional precedent that has been well established over the last three quarters of a century, then the Affordable Care Act should move forward and nothing should be struck. With that said, we have had a number of five-to-four decisions on idealogical and partisan decisions so it's hard to predict what the Court is going to do," said Pollack.
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce its decision around 10 a.m. Thursday.
