Not Covering The Uninsured, By The Numbers

In honor of Cover the Uninsured Week:

Number of currently uninsured Americans: 45 million

Number of working Americans with no health insurance: 20 million

Percent of uninsured Americans unable to see a doctor when they needed to in 12 month period: 41

Average cost of visit to hospital for Americans with no health insurance: $1,000

Amount the U.S. loses per year on “uncompensated” care for people with no insurance: $41 billion

Cuts in Medicaid passed by Congress last week, over five years: $10 billion

Percent of uninsured Americans who would benefit from President Bush’s proposed Health Savings Accounts: 0.3

Percent of U.S. adults who cite lowering health care costs and health insurance as a top priority for the president and Congress: 63

Percent of Americans who say health care is the “single most important issue” for Congress to address in 2005: 10

Percent who say Social Security is the “single most important issue”: 2

Speeches President Bush and Vice President Cheney have given on health care this week: 0

Speeches they’ve given on Social Security: 4

Number of times the words “health care” or “uninsured” appear in transcripts of White House press gaggles this week: 0

Days since President Bush spoke about the issue of health care: 96