Tammy Baldwin: “I rise tonight during Cover the Uninsured Week to draw attention to a national crisis. According to the Census Bureau…”

“I rise tonight during Cover the Uninsured Week to draw attention to a national crisis. According to the Census Bureau, 45.8 million Americans are without health insurance. Millions more encounter a health care system that is inadequate in meeting their basic medical needs because they are underinsured. The Commonwealth Fund recently released a study estimating that there are an additional 16 million Americans who are underinsured, meaning their insurance does not adequately protect them against catastrophic health care expenses. That means that 61 million Americans either have no health insurance or have only sporadic coverage or have insurance coverage that leaves them exposed to very high health costs. Sixty-one million Americans is nearly 20 percent of all Americans. That is one in five Americans who have inadequate or no health care coverage at all. The lack of affordable, comprehensive health care affects every congressional district in this Nation. To highlight the issue and the real impact that being uninsured has on the lives of Americans, I have selected some letters that I have received from my constituents who have had difficulty obtaining and affording comprehensive health care coverage. Too often here in Congress we speak of health care issues in the antiseptic jargon of policymakers and lawyers, but people across America are hurting and these letters tell their stories in their own words.…”