Nearly 13 Tennesseans die every week due to lack of health insurance, according to a report published this week by Families USA.

That number means about 676 Tennesseans died in 2006 for the same reason, the national organization for health-care consumers says. And between 2000 and 2006, the Washington, D.C.-based organization estimates more than 3,600 Georgians between the ages of 25 and 64 died because they did not have health insurance.

Nationally, about 22,000 Americans without health insurance died between 2000 and 2006.

Families USA says uninsured adults are more likely to be diagnosed with a disease, such as cancer, in an advanced stage, which greatly reduces their chance of survival.

"Our report highlights how our inadequate system of health coverage condemns a great number of people to an early death, simply because they don't have the same access to health care as their insured neighbors," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA. "The conclusions are sadly clear -- a lack of health coverage is a matter of life and death for many people."

The report says in 2006 about 18 percent of those 25-64 living in Tennessee were uninsured.

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