• Government
• Profession
• Business
• Opinion
• Health

• Health reform
• H1N1
• P4P
• EMRs
• Medicare
• Liability
• AMA House
• » More

• Book Excerpt
• Business Pitch
• Meetings
• » More

• Contract Language
• Ethics Forum
• In the Courts
• Practice Management
• Technically Speaking
• » More

• Issue dates
• Regions
• Health plans
• Sections
• News briefs
• Columns
• Editorials
• Letters
• Writers
• Other years

• Search tips
• E-mail alert
• Radio
• RSS
• Mobile
• Subscribe
• Institutions
• Staff directory
• Advertising
• Permissions
• Reprints
• News media
• Site guide
• Useful links
• About
• Premium
• Contact

Uninsured week spotlights issue; agreement on solutions elusive

Congress is far from consensus on how to get coverage to the 46 million uninsured. Both rich and poor Americans are increasingly unlikely to be covered.

By Elaine Monaghan, amednews staff. May 15, 2006.

• PRINT|
• E-MAIL|
• RESPOND|
• REPRINTS|
• SHARE

Washington -- Physicians, patients and activists joined forces across the country this month to highlight the mounting number of uninsured Americans as politicians locked horns over how to tackle the problem.

The fourth "Cover the Uninsured Week," which began May 1, coincided with the release of data that revealed a spike in moderate-income uninsured people and with protests by immigrants, for whom health insurance is often a distant dream.

"Forty-six million uninsured in the richest nation in the world -- I think that's a national disgrace," said J. Edward Hill, MD, president of the American Medical Association. "It's way past time for something to be done."

The AMA advocates a market-based system in which tax credits linked to income would replace subsidies for employment-based insurance.

Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said: "Living without health insurance is a gamble that no one in this nation should have to take." The organization is chief sponsor of Cover the Uninsured Week, which is chaired by former Presidents Carter and Ford and co-sponsored by 18 national organizations including the AMA, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO and AARP.

The crowds of people who skipped work and took to the streets May 1 to demand rights for illegal immigrants were dominated by Latin Americans, who are far more likely to be uninsured than other ethnic groups.

"The bulk of them are working in jobs that do not provide insurance or are earning such low wages that they can't afford it," said Jane Delgado, PhD, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, one of the week's co-sponsors.