[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 68 (Friday, May 14, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E864-E865]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                RECOGNIZING ``COVER THE UNINSURED WEEK''

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 13, 2004

  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize May 10-16 as 
``Cover the Uninsured Week.'' This is an important opportunity to put 
the spotlight on those individuals without access to coverage as well 
as those with inadequate coverage. Over 44 million people--15% of the 
U.S. population--lack health insurance coverage of any kind over the 
entire year. It has been said many times, but it must be said yet 
again--the United States is the only industrialized nation which fails 
to provide universal health care to its people. I hope the ``Cover the 
Uninsured Week'' will not just stimulate discussion, but action, so 
that soon that statement will no longer be true.
  Individuals without health insurance are more likely than insured 
Americans to postpone health care, not getting the care they need and 
not filling prescriptions. Access to health insurance also has a major 
impact on the financial well-being of families--over a third of the 
uninsured had a serious problem paying medical bills in the past year 
and nearly a quarter was contacted by a collection agency. The alarming 
fact is that this disturbing trend is only worsening. Throughout most 
of the 1990s, the number of uninsured has been steadily increasing by 
about 1 million people every year. This problem persists despite the 
fact that a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 78 percent 
of all Americans believe that the government has a responsibility to 
expand health insurance coverage to more Americans. This strong sense 
of national support for expanding health care to the uninsured is a 
mandate to the government to act now on this urgent problem that is 
profoundly affecting the ability of Americans to live healthy and 
productive lives.
  The lack of affordable health care and the national epidemic of the 
uninsured is not a problem with a single face. The uninsured are a 
diverse group of people--they are young professionals, small business 
owners, laborers and service employees. They are children, parents, and 
the near elderly. Any working person in this country can end up being 
uninsured at some point in their life. Today, I would like to look 
beyond the numbers and present before you snapshots of two people from 
my state of Illinois who are living without insurance.
  Jocelyn Graf of Oak Park, Illinois had to give up her health 
insurance when she started her own small English language training 
business and discovered that she could not afford the insurance plans 
available on the market. Jocelyn has received discounted medical care 
with assistance from the Campaign for Better Health Care. Jocelyn 
explained that she has been willing to risk living without insurance 
because she is young and healthy, but the lack of coverage would have 
been harder to deal with if she had ongoing health needs or was 
injured.

[[Page E865]]

  Uyles Singleton of Chicago, Illinois worked for an envelope 
manufacturing company for 35 years. When the company went out of 
business last July, Uyles had only one month's notice his employer 
coverage insurance, which provided him and his wife access to medical 
care. Uyles quickly discovered that he could not afford to pay the 
exorbitantly high insurance premiums and now has to pay for all of his 
medical and prescription drug expenses out-of-pocket. Uyles pays $300 a 
month for his monthly medications to treat a chronic condition and can 
no longer afford to visit his regular primary care physician. In 
February, Uyles went to Cook County Hospital after separating his 
shoulder where he was x-rayed, but was not treated because he was 
unable to pay for the costs of care.
  Unfortunately, the problem runs much deeper than just the uninsured. 
Perhaps the sleeping giant of our health care coverage crisis is the 
population of Americans who are underinsured and lack access to urgent 
and necessary care. If you have a chronic medical condition and your 
employer changes health insurance providers or you change jobs and your 
new policy does not cover a preexisting condition, then you or your 
family may experience a serious gap in coverage. If you are in need of 
mental health coverage that your insurance does not cover, you will be 
unable to access appropriate care. And if you are self-employed or 
unemployed for even a small stretch of time, you may find yourself 
priced out of the health insurance market or paying high premiums for 
an insurance policy that may only cover catastrophic costs. Even 
temporary gaps in coverage affect the health and financial stability of 
the so-called ``insured population.'' A 2002 Kaiser Foundation study 
found that 38 percent of insured individuals report that they or their 
families experienced at least one problem accessing medical services in 
the past year, nearly one-fifth (18 percent) reported that they 
postponed seeking medical care and 15 percent had a problem paying 
medical bills.
  These numbers have real meaning to the people I represent. I have 
been contacted by a constituent who, although being insured, suffers 
from breast cancer, a condition not covered by her insurance provider. 
The very expensive cost of fighting this disease falls squarely on her 
shoulders with no help from her insurer. I am greatly troubled by the 
many constituents that I have heard from who struggle to pay the high 
premiums for their insurance, only to have to ration the medical care 
they need for themselves and their children because of deductibles that 
reach $5,000. Insurance available in today's market is clearly not a 
full-proof guarantee that people can access the care they need. Given 
the very thin line distinguishing the underinsured from the uninsured, 
Congress needs to act to guarantee comprehensive, quality care for both 
the uninsured and the badly insured.
  Any of us could become uninsured and face similar problems in 
obtaining medical care. Action on this critical issue is long since 
overdue. I urge my colleagues in Congress to not delay. We must act to 
make health care a right entitled to each and every single American.

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