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Almost three people a day die in North Carolina for lack of health insurance, a medical-consumer nonprofit group reported Friday.

Moreover, the state's recent growth in the number of uninsured people — the fifth-fastest in the nation — suggests that could increase.

The group, Families USA, followed up on two earlier national studies to produce what it says are the first state-level statistics examining the link between lack of health insurance and premature death.

It found that about 1,000 working-age North Carolinians died in 2006 as a direct result of lacking health insurance.

Between 2000 and 2006, about 5,600 North Carolinians between the ages of 25 and 64 died because of lack of health insurance, said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, in a teleconference.

"Our report highlights how our inadequate system of health coverage condemns a great number of North Carolinians to early death simply because they don't have the same access to health care as their insured neighbors," Pollack said. "Lack of health coverage is a matter of life and death for many North Carolinians."

Among the consequences, the study found, people without insurance:

* Have more trouble than insured people in getting primary and preventive medical care.

* Are less likely than insured people to be able to afford prescriptions they may need to keep themselves healthy.

* Are more likely than insured people not to have illnesses such as cancer discovered until they are in advanced, less treatable stages.

In Guilford County, people without insurance who cannot afford health care may be treated by the nonprofit medical practice HealthServe Community Health Clinic. But no such service exists in many areas, says Dr. David Talbot, medical director of HealthServe.

"I could anticipate some people saying, 'Well, gee, if you really have your wits about you and you're pretty conscientious and taking care of yourself, you're not going to be in that unlucky group of people who (die)," Talbot said. "People find it sort of hard to believe that if you don't have enough money, no one will see you. But that really does happen."

Worsening the problem, the number of uninsured people in North Carolina grew 2.8 percent from 2005 to 2006. That growth rate tied with New Mexico for fifth-fastest among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation.

Talbot pointed out that the Families USA report does not address people who may survive illness or injury but be disabled, thus requiring additional care whose cost ultimately will fall to taxpayers.

The Families USA report follows up on a national report by the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academies, an independent group that advises the federal government and the public on scientific and technical matters.

That 2002 report, "Care Without Coverage: Too Little, Too Late," found that in 2000, roughly 18,000 people ages 25-64 died nationwide because they lacked health insurance. The deaths stemmed not only from illness, the report found, but also from the fact that uninsured people tend to receive poorer care in the hospital "even for acute situations like a motor vehicle crash."

An update of that research by the nonprofit Urban Institute found that in 2006, about 22,000 people in that age group died for lack of health coverage.

Families USA used the two groups' methodologies to examine data state by state, taking into account not only state population, but also the percentage of each state's working-age population that lacked health insurance.

One solution, Talbot suggested, might be to gradually increase the age range of people covered by the federal government's Medicare program, which currently covers those 65 and older.

Also, he said, the rates Medicare pays for medical services should be changed to emphasize primary and preventive care, which can prevent illness and save money in the long run.

Contact Lex Alexander at 373-7088 or lex.alexander@news-record.com