With 45 million or more Americans uninsured, you may want to join activities for Cover the Uninsured Week, May 1 - 8. Your efforts can spread the word that most of the uninsured are employed and tend to get care that's too little, too late.
Visit the Cover the Uninsured Week Web site to find materials to help you plan or participate in various events or activities. "What You Can Do" gives tips, for example, on organizing events, writing an op-ed, writing a letter to the editor, enrolling the uninsured in health insurance programs and contacting congressional representatives.
Cities with national organizers planning events you might participate in include Albuquerque, N.M.; Chicago; Denver; Detroit; Houston; Miami; Nashville, Tenn.; New Orleans; New York; Philadelphia; San Diego; Seattle; and Tampa, Fla.
AAFP chapter executives also have materials that will make it easy for you to send your local newspaper information about covering the uninsured. Contact your chapter executive for a sample column and letter to the editor, complete with suggestions for ways you can personalize them; the column and letter both have a link to data on the number of uninsured in each state, so you can use your state's information.
If you're interested in sharing information on AAFP's plan to ensure all Americans have health coverage, visit Health Care Coverage for All to check out the plan, its summary, a Q and A, and a PowerPoint presentation.
Cover the Uninsured Week is sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in partnership with many organizations; AAFP is a national supporter of the week.
