Although the United States spends more on health care than any other industrialized country (the United States spent $4,887 per capita on health care in 2001, compared to $2,792 in Canada, $2,513 in Australia and $1,992 in Britain) – totalling more than 1.4 trillion dollars, there continues to be a sizable portion without health insurance. This is simply unacceptable. Next week is “Cover the unisured week” to bring attention to this issue:

There are nearly 44 million Americans living without health coverage ““ including 8.5 million children. In 2002, the number of people without health coverage increased by more than 2 million, the largest one-year increase in a decade. Unfortunately, the problem won’t get better soon. Rising health care costs continue to undermine the ability of individuals, businesses and state governments to purchase health care coverage. Reversing this disturbing trend, elevating this issue on the national and local agendas, educating Americans about the problem and providing immediate assistance to the uninsured and small business owners are the goals of Cover the Uninsured Week 2004.

For more information, their website can be found here.