At least one working-age person dies each week in Hawai'i because they lack health insurance, according to a study for a nonprofit group that advocates for quality, affordable healthcare for all U.S. residents.

The group, Families USA , estimated about 60 people in Hawai'i died in 2006 because they lacked health insurance, and that between 2000 and 2006 almost 400 people died.

The organization yesterday released an estimate for each state, explaining it was attempting to quantify on a local level the relationship between a lack of health coverage and deaths from health-related causes for people between ages 25 and 64. The group previously has noted that uninsured people are less likely to have a regular source of healthcare, often go without screenings and preventive care, and often forgo or delay needed medical care.

Because of this, uninsured adults are 25 percent more likely to die prematurely than those with private health insurance, the group said.

Families USA warned against comparing its state death rates against each other because of population size, mortality rates and uninsured rates. In Texas, at least seven people die each day because they don't have health insurance, the study said.

Hawai'i's uninsured health insurance rate is one of the lowest in the nation because of the 1974 Hawaii Prepaid Healthcare Act, which requires employers to make the insurance available to full-time workers. The percentage of uninsured working-age adults in Hawai'i is 10.4 percent, Families USA said.

State-level figures in the study were based on prior reports by the Institute of Medicine and The Urban Institute.