"Cover the Uninsured Week" a national grassroots effort

AMA Leader Commentary. By J. Edward Hill, MD. Feb. 3, 2003.

AMA LEADER COMMENTARY

A few words about current events in medical practice

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A message to all physicians from J. Edward Hill, MD, chair of the AMA Board of Trustees.

What does it mean when you and your family can't get health insurance? That's the question America will be asking the second week of March, during "Cover the Uninsured Week." And I hope the answers will shock our nation right out of its complacency.

Living without health insurance means living sicker and dying younger. It means that if your uninsured wife or daughter or sister gets breast cancer, she's almost 50% more likely to die than a woman who has private health insurance. It means that if you or a family member get lung cancer or skin cancer, it's more likely to be discovered at a later, more advanced stage of disease -- when treatment is far more difficult.

Worst of all, living without health insurance is a fact of life -- and sometimes death -- for more than 41 million Americans. And it's a national disgrace.

As the number of uninsured people continues to grow, the safety nets in our system -- free clinics, community health centers, emergency departments and hospitals -- simply can't pick up the slack. What's more, with budget pressures mounting for state and federal programs, such as the State Children's Health Insurance Program, the situation is likely to get worse unless the nation acts.

Before our nation can seriously address the problem, however, it has to see it.

Too often, Americans who have health coverage tend to think of the uninsured as "other people." But eight out of 10 uninsured people work or are members of working families. They are hairdressers and carpenters, small business owners and high-flying entrepreneurs. They are neighbors and friends -- and all too often, they are invisible.