~> Let' see - this is a study done by a group of highly educated people at 
~> Harvard, one of the world's most prestigious education facilities because 
~> they are world renown for their accuracy and bi-partisanship - who do these 
~> kinds of studies for a living.

I don't doubt their education, but I also try to avoid blindly following
people just because they are considered "experts."  Especially when they
publish articles that include political claims such as the belief that
everyone has a RIGHT to medical care, and when two of them co-found an
organization to lobby for a single-payer system.

Your belief that Harvard University is "bi-partisan" is amusing.  But since
the study was done by six individuals who are decidedly partisan in their
actions and their writings (such as Wilper's letter to the Journal in
September dealing with the Bush administration handling of those in
prison), and not done by Harvard, the point is moot.

~> No offense Earl - but you - who by the way has never been paid to conduct 
~> such a study, dismisses it out of hand based on what ....  Your opinion?

Except I did not dismiss it out of hand, and it wasn't based on my opinion.
 I doubted its accuracy, based on the methodological assumptions of the
study (which I elaborated on a bit in the earlier post), based on the fact
that the results are far higher than a series of previous studies done on
the same subject (also done, I assume, by highly educated people), and
based on the political views of the authors and the political timing of the
article.

The actual article is not yet available direct from AJPH yet, as far as I
can tell, but a draft of it is at:

http://pnhp.org/excessdeaths/health-insurance-and-mortality-in-US-adults.pdf

You should check out the table on page 5, to see some of the other risks.

And it will be a few months before we can read the responses to the article
and the Nov. 2009 letter from Wilper defending the article, so I don't know
what the published reactions were from other presumably highly educated
people.  So, no, I don't dismiss it out of hand.

 
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