Statement by Edward J. McElroy,
President, American Federation of Teachers,
On the Increasing Number of Uninsured Americans

Washington, D.C. – It is a national embarrassment that every year, more and more Americans are forced to go without healthcare.  As we mark the third annual Cover the Uninsured Week, a staggering 45 million Americans, more than 8 million of whom are children, do not have healthcare coverage. 
 
The rise in the number of uninsured Americans hurts us all.  More than 18,000 people die prematurely every year because they can't get access to healthcare.  Lack of coverage also has a profound, and somewhat hidden, negative impact on our nation's overall health, well-being and prosperity through lost work time and the depletion of savings to pay for out-of-pocket healthcare costs.  With more than 15 percent of Americans uninsured, our already strained healthcare system is further burdened as skipped preventive visits lead to sicker, harder-to-treat patients, clogged emergency rooms and hospitals that are struggling to bear the financial burden of treating patients unable to pay for life-saving care.

At a time when so many Americans are uninsured, we urge our elected leaders to provide critical additional federal funding to maintain the Medicaid program, and increase funding to expand coverage for needy children in State Children's Health Insurance Programs and other public programs providing health insurance for the working poor.

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