Etheridge Kicks Off 'Cover the Uninsured Week'

Lawmaker Highlights Needs of 1 in 5 North Carolinians Living without Health Insurance

RALEIGH - On the heels of a new report showing that one in five North Carolinians lives without health insurance, U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-Lillington) kicked off "Cover the Uninsured Week," in North Carolina today. Visiting a clinic at WakeMed that serves the uninsured, Etheridge joined people across the nation in the week-long campaign to call attention to the more than 45 million Americans without health insurance.

"We live in the wealthiest nation on earth; yet somehow, 45 million Americans live without health insurance," Etheridge said. "That is not just a policy debate; it is a challenge to the core of our nation. The cost of the uninsured goes far beyond mere numbers. It means curable diseases going undetected and untreated. It means lost productivity, lost wages and lost opportunities. It means people just like you and me missing work, getting extremely ill - or even dying - from very treatable diseases and injuries. Everyone - labor, business, health care professionals, seniors and many more - must work together to end the nightmare that too many North Carolina families face, living without health insurance."

A new report issued by the N.C. Institute of Medicine last week shows that nearly one of five North Carolinians is living without health insurance. Approximately 1.4 million people in North Carolina under the age of 65 are uninsured. That is an increase of more than 300,000 people since 2000. Approximately 15 percent of North Carolinians reported that there was a time in the last 12 months when they needed to see a physician but could not because of the cost.

At the kickoff, Etheridge decried the budget passed by the Republican Congress last week that cuts Medicaid funding. Medicaid is the nation's largest health insurance program. It provides coverage for low-income Americans, including children, the elderly and the disabled. Without Medicaid 1.5 million more people in North Carolina, including 870,000 children would be uninsured. Nearly 70 percent of those covered by Medicaid in North Carolina are families and children.

Etheridge was joined at the event by three North Carolinians who help the state's uninsured, CEO of WakeMed Bill Atkinson, Executive Director of Urban Ministries of Raleigh Annie Burke, and Executive Director of Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies of Wake County Laura Oberkirsher.

For more information on "Cover the Uninsured Week," please visit www.covertheuninsured.org.