Participate in Cover the Uninsured Week 2007
April 23 through 29 is Cover the Uninsured Week. Currently in its fifth year, Cover the Uninsured Week has served as a national platform for discussion and debate about the need to cover America’s uninsured. During that week, people from all sectors of society and from all 50 states join together to demand that the nation’s leaders make this issue a priority.
According to a 2005 Current Population Survey of the United States Bureau of the Census entitled Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, there are 46 million Americans living without health coverage, including more than 8 million children. And according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, members of racial and ethnic minority groups make up a disproportionate share of the uninsured population, and the likelihood of being insured increases as level of educational attainment rises. Moreover, only 9 percent of people in families with income over $50,000 per year are uninsured, compared to 40.8 percent of people with family income below $5,000. As most elderly people are covered by Medicare, nearly all the uninsured are under age 65.
Children are also more likely to have coverage than non-elderly adults, which reflects their much higher rates of public coverage through Medicaid and SCHIP. Nevertheless, currently in the U.S., nearly 20% of children are living without health insurance – more than the total number of kids enrolled in the first and second grades in the country’s public schools. Almost 4 in 10 of uninsured children are White, compared to 36.5 percent Hispanic and 17.1 percent Black, and almost 1 in 3 uninsured children live in families below the poverty line.
Most of these children have parents who work, but their parents are not offered or cannot afford to purchase health insurance for their kids. Uninsured children are more likely than insured children to lack a usual source of health care, to go without needed care and to experience worse health outcomes.
Covering Uninsured Children – a Good Investment in Children’s Education and the Nation’s Future
Children with coverage are more likely to get the care they need when they need it. And healthy children are better prepared to learn in school and succeed in life.
This year, Cover the Uninsured Week comes at a critical time in the health care debate – after 10 years, The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) must be reauthorized by Congress in order to continue. This program was authorized by Congress in 1997 to provide coverage for children living in families earning too much for Medicaid, but not enough to afford private insurance. Currently, more than 6 million children are covered by SCHIP.
The Cover the Uninsured Week website includes facts and figures on the uninsured as well as state profiles and policies and strategies. It also includes media resources, planning materials and shows ways in which individuals and organizations can participate. For additional information on Cover the Uninsured Week, please email info@covertheuninsured.org.
Source: Cover the Uninsured Week website.