Barbara Boxer: “over 43 million Americans are uninsured, which means that one in every 7 Americans has no health insurance. It is not…”

“over 43 million Americans are uninsured, which means that one in every 7 Americans has no health insurance. It is not surprising that two-thirds of the uninsured are low-income. What may be surprising to some is that most of the uninsured--8 in 10--come from working families. Most of these uninsured are not eligible for public health insurance programs, such as Medicaid or SCHIP. Lack of health insurance too often means poorer health care. The uninsured receive less preventive care, are diagnosed at more advanced disease stages, and once diagnosed, tend to receive less therapeutic care. The Institute of Medicine estimates that 18,000 Americans die prematurely each year due to the effects of a lack of health insurance. The plight of the uninsured has consequences that reach beyond the uninsured. In 2001, the uninsured amounted to about $35 billion in uncompensated care. Those costs are borne by all of us through higher health care costs and government-funded reimbursements. Furthermore, the Institute of Medicine suggests that the reduced health and higher mortality of the uninsured costs society between $65 billion and $130 billion a year, and concludes that public programs are likely to have higher budgetary costs than they would if everyone under 65 had health insurance. In addition, the Urban Institute recently found that if people were covered by insurance, there could be savings to Medicare and Medicaid of $10 billion a year.”