Massachusetts Mirrors National Trends

This week is Cover the Uninsured Week, organized to draw attention to the plight of the millions of uninsured around the country (official website). In conjunction with the week’s events, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (link) released a report today that highlighted several appalling trends:

-Almost half (49 percent) of uninsured adults with chronic conditions forgo needed medical care or prescription drugs due to cost. Uninsured adults with chronic conditions were 4.5 times as likely as their insured counterparts to report an unmet need for medical care or prescription drugs.
-Uninsured adults with chronic medical conditions (things like high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease) were 4.5 as likely to report an unmet need for medical care or prescription drugs.

In a related poll, 3 out of 4 adults fear losing their health insurance.

All these reasons are vivid illustrations of why a constitutional amendment is needed. Everyone deserves access to affordable, comprehensive and equitably financed health care coverage, and no one should have to worry about losing it. It is a right, a responsibility, and an economic imperative.