Cover The Uninsured

The Situation

Forty-six million Americans are uninsured. Nine million of them are children. More than eight out of 10 are in working families. They are our friends, neighbors and colleagues--forced to gamble every day that they won't get sick or injured.

Living without health insurance is a risk no one should have to take.
The Response

Cover the Uninsured, a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is a national effort to highlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health insurance and demand solutions from our nation's leaders.

We know that reaching the goal of affordable and stable health care will require changes in public policy. Through Cover the Uninsured, we are working to build and sustain broad-based support for change.

This includes raising awareness and building support among policy-makers, health care professionals, grassroots advocates, faith leaders, the business community and active citizens through Cover the Uninsured Week and reaching out to enroll eligible uninsured families in public health coverage programs during the annual Back-to-School Campaign.

And our work is making a difference.

Thanks in large part to thousands of individuals and organizations working in their communities, concern about access to affordable health coverage is high among American voters. Broad-based coalitions from across the country and our nation's governors have joined together in the fight. In February 2009, President Obama and Congress reauthorized the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to cover more than 4 million more children.

The time for change is now.

2009 is the year to build upon this momentum to increase awareness about the issue, amplify diverse voices on behalf of the uninsured, and demand solutions from our nation's leaders.

UPDATE:

IMPORTANT UPDATE: As part of the economic stimulus package, if you were involuntarily terminated between September 1, 2008, and December 31, 2009, and your annual income does not exceed $125,000 for an individual or $250,000 for a family, you may qualify for subsidies to cover 65 percent of the cost of health insurance premiums under COBRA for as long as nine months.