The following is the statement of Kathleen Stoll, Health Policy Director of Families USA, about the Census Bureau's newly released findings that the number of uninsured Americans rose to 46.6 million during 2005:
“We are concerned to see that the number of people without health insurance continues to grow. Under the Bush Administration, we have seen the number of uninsured Americans go from 41.2 million in 2001 to 46.6 million in 2005.
“The huge number of uninsured Americans now exceeds the cumulative population of 24 states plus the District of Columbia.
“At a time when health insurance is becoming more and more unaffordable for most people, we need to have a Congress and a president who are willing to do more than pay lip service to the issue. We must make high-quality, affordable health care a priority in the federal budget.
“Unfortunately, that is not happening in Washington today. The Congressional Joint Tax Committee estimates the most recent Republican House proposal to reduce the estate tax for the richest Americans would cost $268 billion in lost revenue over 10 years (2007-2016). The lost revenue in 2016 alone will be $61.7 billion.
“That is not the right priority for America. The lost revenue in 2016 alone would pay for insurance for more than 12 million people. And if we look at the average cost of covering children, the $61.7 billion that conservatives want to give to wealthy Americans in just one year could be spent to provide health insurance to every uninsured child in this country for more than four years.
“In addition, policy makers in Washington and the American people need to realize that leaving more than 46 million Americans without health insurance doesn’t come without a significant cost shift. Last year, Families USA estimated that the cost of uncompensated care for the uninsured added an average of more than $900 to the cost of insurance for American families.
“We will see the numbers of uninsured people decline only when voters across the country demand that our leaders get their priorities straight.”
