Researchers from Cambridge Health Alliance and Boston Medical Center report that uninsured people are also more likely to have undiagnosed and undertreated medical conditions. The  new study compared chronic illnesses among Americans with and without health coverage. The results, according to the report, offer possible clues to a recently reported higher death rate among people who lack insurance.

Researchers tracked diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol in a national survey of more than 15,000 working-age adults, according to the article.

“ Based on questionnaires, medical exams, and lab test results, they found that about half of uninsured people who had diabetes or high cholesterol were unaware of it, compared with just under one-quarter of insured people who did not know they had these conditions. High blood pressure, however, was undiagnosed in about a quarter of both uninsured and insured people,” the article reports.

Once diagnosed, the report found that hypertension was poorly controlled in 58 percent of uninsured people and 51 percent of those with insurance. The treatment gap was larger for high cholesterol: 77 percent of uninsured versus 60 percent of insured people had inadequately treated levels.

Mandatory health insurance will pay for itself as healthy people are productive people. And healthy productive people will help dig the nation out of its trillion dollars debt.