Cover the Uninsured Week - Genesis Health System

News

Release Date: April 25, 2008

Cover the Uninsured Week to highlight 47 million uninsured Americans

Imagine you’re in your fifties. Early in November, you find yourself with severe back and hip pain. You’ve had this before, and generally have been able to control it with over-the-counter medicines, but this time it drags on—through Thanksgiving, then early December, then Christmas—all the time getting worse.

You’re having a hard time driving because you get a sharp pain when you move your foot from the gas to the brake; you spend some nights trying to sleep on the floor, the only place firm enough to blunt the pain.

Finally, in early January, you decide to go to your doctor to ask him about prescribing physical therapy, which helped the problem 11 years ago. You get the prescription, you get the therapy, you gradually improve, and three months later you’re nearly back to normal—much of the cost covered by your health insurance.

Now imagine the same situation, but this time, because you can’t afford insurance, you’re uninsured.

Is your pain any less severe? Do you try to carry on, but ultimately find yourself unable to take it any more and ending up in the emergency room, hoping for a one-stop miracle cure, all the while knowing you will have a large hospital bill because you couldn’t afford to be seen and treated earlier?

Nearly 47 million Americans today are uninsured, 8 out of 10 in working families. Sometimes they have diabetes, or heart disease; sometimes their pain turns out to be cancer, left untreated too long for a cure. Nine million of them are children. And 18,000 of them die every year.

Cover the Uninsured Week, April 27-May 3, 2008, is sponsored annually by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as a “national effort to highlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health insurance and to demand solutions from our nation’s leaders.”

Local events

This year’s Cover the Uninsured Week activities in the Quad Cities include:

Weekend of April 27: "Prayer for the Uninsured" in Quad Cities places of worship; organized by Quad Cities Interfaith.
Wednesday, April 30, noon: Prayer Vigil, Broadway Presbyterian Church, 710 23rd St., Rock Island; organized by Quad Cities Interfaith in cooperation with Progressive Action for the Common Good (PACG) and Iowa for Health Care.
Saturday, May 3, 1 to 3 p.m.: Iowa Legislator-Physician Forum, to be held at the Genesis Heart Institute, Adler Health Education Center, 1236 E. Rusholme St., Davenport; organized by Genesis Health System, Scott County Medical Society, the Quad City Times and Progressive Action for the Common Good.

Get educated and get involved! For more information, go to www.covertheuninsured.org

— By Karen Metcalf of Iowa for Health Care; Progressive Action for the Common Good

A glossary of insurance terms

Coverage — A person has coverage if all or part of his/her health care costs is paid for.
• Health Care — The prevention, treatment, and management of illness and the preservation of mental and physical well being through the services offered by health care professionals.
Medicaid — A state-administered program that was created in 1965 and now provides health coverage to nearly 60 million low-income children, pregnant women, seniors, and people with disabilities. In some states, Medicaid also provides health coverage to some, but not all, low-income adults. Costs are shared by the state and federal government.
SCHIP — The State Children's Health Insurance Program created in 1997 provides health insurance to around 6.6 million children across the country. Costs of this program are shared by the state and federal government.
Underinsured — Refers to people who have health insurance, but face significant limits on the benefits that may affect the usefulness of the insurance in accessing or paying for necessary health care services.
Uninsured — People who lack any form of health insurance, public or private (Medicare and Medicaid are examples of public insurance). There are 47 million people in this country who are uninsured.
Universal Coverage — Health insurance coverage for every man, woman and child in a state or country. It extends access to all regardless of employment, citizenship status, pre-existing health conditions, or current mental or physical health.