Check out AAFP plan to help the increasing numbers of uninsured -- April 2002 -- FP Report

April 2002 • Volume 8 • Number 4

Check out AAFP plan to help the increasing numbers of uninsured

More Americans are losing their health care coverage or are concerned about losing it. That's the bad news from recent studies.

The good news -- from the Academy -- includes two new ways you can share AAFP's plan, "Assuring Health Care Coverage for All." The Congress of Delegates approved the plan last fall, and you may want to circulate it to your colleagues as you continue caring for the uninsured.

STUDIES PROJECTIONS

The U.S. Census Bureau estimated in 2000 that 39 million Americans lacked health insurance. That number grew by 2.2 million last year as people lost jobs and therefore lost insurance, the consumer group Families USA said recently.

The recession's end was ballyhooed in the media last month. However, Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, says a significant increase in the number of the uninsured is likely regardless of whether the recession is officially over. His reasons:

Families USA executive director
Ron Pollack
"Many family doctors become the safety net for the uninsured and are looked to for heroic service in the face of the worsening situation."

The increase in employment in February may not be permanent. "Many economists say the last part of the economy to reflect improvement will be employment," says Pollack.
Health care costs are rising at double-digit rates. "More and more people will find health care coverage unaffordable," says Pollack.
Employers are much more apt to reduce coverage or pass on their increased health care costs to their workers "because the workforce is not as tight as it used to be," says Pollack, and those actions by employers will increase the number of the uninsured.
States are experiencing significant budget short falls. "One state after another is contemplating cuts in the Medicaid program," says Pollack.

"The confluence of all these forces makes concern about the uninsured of even greater urgency than before," he notes.

A January survey of 800 registered voters supports Pollack's views. Among the insured, 21 percent of respondents said their out-of-pocket costs (premiums, deductibles, copayments) might rise so much this year that they'd have to drop the coverage they have through their employers. The survey was conducted for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Where do family physicians stand vis-a-vis the uninsured? "Many family doctors become the safety net for the uninsured and are looked to for heroic service in the face of the worsening situation," says Pollack.

WHAT CAN YOU DO

Since 1989, the Academy has championed health care coverage for all, and you may have the opportunity to share AAFP's plan to achieve such coverage.

A new PowerPoint presentation with highlights of the AAFP plan is now online for your use. It builds from this premise: "Family physicians believe that a deliberate investment in assuring basic health care coverage will result in a healthier, more productive society."

You can access the presentation at http://www.aafp.org/unicov/.

The full plan, sample questions and answers, and a summary of the plan just became available by fax. To request these materials, see "Quick Fax." The materials are also online at http://www.aafp.org/unicov/ for you to download.

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