April 23rd Through the 29th is Cover the Uninsured Week

Now in its fifth year, Cover the Uninsured Week brings together business owners, union members, educators, students, patients, physicians, nurses, faith leaders and their congregants, and organizations in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to demand that our nation’s leaders find solutions for the nearly 45 million Americans living without health insurance.

Uninsured Myths and Facts

MYTH: People are without health coverage because they don’t work.
FACT: 8 out of 10 people who are uninsured are in working families.

MYTH: Most uninsured people in the United States are minorities.
FACT: Non-Hispanic whites make up half of the uninsured.

MYTH: Most people without health insurance are poor.
FACT: In 2005, more than 32 million of the uninsured had household incomes of $25,000 or more, compared with 14.6 million in households earning less. (The federal poverty level for a family of four in 2005 was $19,350.)

MYTH: It doesn’t really matter whether a person has health insurance.
FACT: About 18,000 Americans die each year because they don’t have health coverage, according to the Nonpartisan Institute of Medicine.

MYTH: Virtually everyone who works for a large employer has health coverage.
FACT: In 2005, 23.1% of the nation’s uninsured workers age 18-64 were in firms employing more than 500 people.

Children Are at the Most Risk

When a child’s parents do not have access to health insurance they are the ones who suffer the most. That is why 10 years ago congress created the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover kids whose parents work but can’t afford health insurance on their own. Unfortunately there are still millions of kids who are uninsured and the SCHIP needs to be reauthorized by congress this year in order to continue.

What Can You do to Help?

Everyone can help by helping spread the word about Cover the Uninsured Week. Tell a friend, visit the website or check for events that are happening in your own home town. There are still 9 million uninsured children that need our help and if congress doesn’t reauthorize the program many more could be left behind. Many events are happening well into May and June so there is still time to lend a hand or help promote the programs in your area.

If you have a website you can get the code for a button to place on your site to generate awareness this week. The button looks like this:

[Source for Image and Myths & Facts: http://covertheuninsured.org]

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• 45 million uninsured myth