Barbara Lee Commemorates Cover the Uninsured Week
Press Release
For Immediate Release: April 30, 2008
Contact: Cleve Mesidor, (202) 225-2661
(Washington, DC) – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-9) entered the following statement into the Congressional Record to commemorate Cover the Uninsured week:
“I strongly believe that health care is a basic human right. Yet far too many people have no access to even the most basic health services.
“Contrary to popular belief, 8 out of 10 Americans who lack health insurance come from working families who just can’t afford the high cost.
“Minority communities also disproportionately suffer from a lack of health coverage.
“More than one third of the Hispanic population in our country and more than one quarter of Native Americans live without health insurance.
“Nearly 22 percent of African Americans and 20 percent of Asian Americans also lack health insurance.
“These statistics are just plain shameful.
“What’s worse is that because these individuals lack health coverage they are more likely to wait to seek treatment until they are really sick, which in turn further drives up health care costs and creates a vicious cycle of un-insurance.
“The sad truth is that over the last eight years of this administration, the number of uninsured Americans has been steadily rising.
“Instead of supporting proposals to expand access to health care, however, this administration has continually supported policies that have driven more people into poverty, placing affordable health care even further out of reach.
“Perhaps the clearest example is this President’s veto of the SCHIP bill and his refusal to provide health coverage to 10 million children.
“That is just unconscionable.
“As the only industrialized nation in the world that does not guarantee healthcare for all our people, I believe we must move toward a system of universal health coverage.
“That is why I have introduced, H.R.3000, the Josephine Butler United States Health Service Act, to make the United States Health Service its own independent executive branch and establish an Office of the Inspector General for Health Services.
“My bill would require the Health Service to ensure that everyone has right and the ability to access the highest quality healthcare available regardless of cost.
“Providing universal healthcare is the right thing to do and it is consistent with our values as a nation and the goals of Cover the Uninsured Week.”
Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-9) is Co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Appropriations Committee.
# # #