If all employees had access to paid sick days, it could save $1 billion in yearly medical costs, according to a report released by the Institute for Women's Policy Research.

This figure includes $500 million in taxpayer-funded public health care programs for children, seniors and low-income Americans. To date, more than 44 million workers are not offered paid sick days, and even more cannot use time off to monitor sick children or other family members.  

"Taking time off work to see a primary care doctor is common sense, but over 40 million Americans cannot do so without losing pay or their job," says Kevin Miller, senior research associate at IWPR and an author of the report. "Americans are paying over $1 billion each year in preventable emergency department costs because hard-working people without paid sick days are unable to get the preventative and early treatment they and their children need."