If a person is uninsured, “it means you’re at mortal risk,” says Dr. David Himmelstein, an associate professor medicine at Harvard Medical School. Himmelstein is one of the researchers involved in a study released in the American Journal of Public Health this week that found that 45,000 deaths per year in the United States are associated with the lack of health insurance.

The data they collected from ore than 9,000 people aged 17 to 64, taken from 1986 to 2000, revealed that:

The uninsured have a 40% higher risk of death than those with private health insurance as a result of being unable to obtain necessary medical care.

This isn’t the first study to conclude that the uninsured are at greater risk of mortality than the insured.

• A 2007 study from The American Cancer Society found that uninsured cancer patients are 1.6%more likely to die within five years of their diagnosis than those with private insurance.
• In 2002, the Institute of Medicine estimated that lack of health insurance caused about 18,000 deaths every year.

Critics say the research methods are flawed and significantly overstate the death risk, but do admit that there is “a genuine crisis of the uninsured in this country.”

According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau:

• The number of Americans without health insurance rose to 46.3 million last year, up from 4.7 million in 2007.
• Young adults are more likely to be uninsured.

According to the Young Invincibles, a new group of 18 to 34 year-olds across the country who are committed to making sure young people are heard in the debate about the future of our country, young Americans experience the deficiencies of our health care system on a daily basis.

• In 2006, the number of uninsured young adults (19 to 29 year olds) climbed to 13.7 million people, accounting for about a third of the total uninsured population.
• Between 2001 & 2003 a staggering 62% of young adults between the ages of 19 and 23 went without coverage for some portion of time.
• Age 19 is a particularly vulnerable turning point because this is when many can no longer be covered on their parents’ insurance plans. While 11% of children age 18 and under are uninsured, this rate rises to 29% among those aged 19 to 29.

Want to do something about health care? Get inspired by some projects on DoSomething.org:

• Health Care literacy education program for immigrants and older adults offers immigrants training, education, understanding, and knowledge that will allow them to become active members within their own healthcare.
• POV Health offers services to impoverished neighborhoods where low income single families are seeking Health care screenings but are not able to pay for services or medication.