04.29.08

Cantwell: 47 Million Americans Living Without Health Care is a Crime

Cover the Uninsured Week Working Towards New Ways to Bring Health Care to Americans

WASHINGTON, DC – Tuesday, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) urged policymakers to put politics aside and work toward providing health care to the millions of Americans, and the millions of American children, who are living without health insurance.  This week marks Cover the Uninsured Week, a nonpartisan campaign organized by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to advocate for health coverage for all Americans.  For years, Cantwell has worked to support health insurance coverage for all Americans. 
 
“Cover the Uninsured Week gives policymakers, employers, families, and grassroots advocates the opportunity to reflect on the plight of 47 million Americans, including nearly 10 million children, living without health coverage,” said Cantwell. “The system is not working, and members of both parties need to come together and advance solutions that will provide peace of mind to every American family.”
 
Cantwell has long worked to improve access to health coverage.  On her seat in the Finance Committee, she worked to secure funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). CHIP would provide coverage to millions of additional low-income children, including roughly half of the 73,000 uninsured children in Washington state.  Unfortunately, the bill was vetoed twice by the President, leaving Congress with the responsibility of passing another measure before the program’s expiration in March 2009.
 
“Lack of health coverage leads to more people in the emergency rooms.  It leads to greater burdens on our charitable hospitals, community health centers, and American taxpayers.  Most troublesome, it leads to more lives lost.  We cannot stand by and watch this crisis get worse,” continued Cantwell.
 
Cantwell will continue working toward solutions to help drive down health care costs and ultimately make health insurance more affordable.  She is working to improve efficiency in our nation’s health care system and implement mechanisms that will reward the provision of coordinated, quality care in the Medicare system, as well as care provided outside of institutions and in the home and community. Cantwell is also a strong supporter of health information technology, the implementation of which could result in the savings of billions of dollars otherwise spent on duplicative tests or costly medical error. 
 
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