Defining Health Care Reform For The Uninsured

The uninsured Americans is more than 46 million and growing.

The uninsured receive about one-half of the medical care of people with insurance, which tends to leave them sicker and likely to die younger, according to the National Institutes of Medicine.

Our nation loses $65 billion to $130 billion per year because of the poor health and premature deaths of uninsured Americans. This creates a significant burden on affected individuals and their families, as well as on the state and federal economies. 

Governors are extremely concerned about the health of their citizens, rising health care costs, and an increasing number of uninsured individuals in the United States. Much work needs to be done to reduce the number of the uninsured, increase the quality of care delivered through the private sector, and increase efficiency and administrative simplification.

While federal-state partnership programs such as Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) have helped to prevent millions of low-income Americans from joining the ranks of the uninsured, a more comprehensive and coordinated national approach to this national problem is needed that retains the strengths of the existing health care coverage and delivery system. An effective national approach would provide states with the flexibility and the resources needed to address state-specific issues surrounding those individuals who are either uninsured or underinsured.

The Governors look forward to working closely with Congress and the Administration on a bipartisan approach to make quality health care more affordable and accessible for all Americans.

Many states have found that covering the uninsured benefits the state as a whole—both the uninsured, through the provision of health care, and the insured, by reducing uncompensated care costs.