Cover the Uninsured Week, March 10-16Nearly a third of non-elderly people in the United States had no health insurance for all or part of 2001-02, according to a report from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, prepared by Families USA for Cover the Uninsured Week. Most of these people were unemployed, low-wage earners or employed by small businesses, but even among people earning four times the poverty level, 16 percent went without coverage.
In DC, the percentage of people under the age of 65 who were uninsured for six months or longer in 2001-02 was 70 percent. These people are at risk of devastating health and financial consequences. Our uninsured neighbors often find themselves without a source of medical care other than the emergency room and so go without preventative care and screenings. They are sicker and die earlier than those with health coverage.
Without getting into a debate about government's responsibilities to provide health insurance for all of its citizens, we, as individuals, have an obligation to care about these people, to learn about the enormous numbers of families affected, and to help spread this dialog. Collectively, we can have an impact.
What You Can Do
* Volunteer at a Local Free Clinic
Zacchaeus Free Clinic
1525 Seventh St. NW
Telephone: 202/265-2400
Director: Dr. Randi Abramson
La Clinica del Pueblo Inc.
1470 Irving St. NW
Telephone: 202/462-4788
Director: Juan Romagoza M.D.
Washington Free Clinic
1525 Newton St. NW
Telephone: 202/667-1106
Director: Caroline Gardner
* Go to a Town Hall Meeting
On Monday, March 10, at 2 p.m. attend a town hall meeting at the Studio Theater, 14 and P Streets, NW, with approximately 100 people from the DC health care community as well as local government and political leaders. The event will resemble a talk show with DC Mayor Anthony Williams as the guest and Dr. Gloria Brathwaite-Wilder, a local provider for uninsured children, as the host. If you can’t make it, watch it on the mayor's cable TV station, Wednesday, March 12, at 8 p.m. For more information, contact Rob Langelier at 202/638-0252, ext. 102, or e-mail him here.
On Tuesday, March 11, a town hall meeting will be held at the research building of the Georgetown University Medical Center, Center for Clinical Bioethics, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, call Jen Olsen at 202/572-2907 or e-mail her here.
