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Contact: Media Relations Officer, (202) 828-0975.
AAMC Commends ACP-ASIM Report on Uninsured
November 29, 1999
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) commends the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine (ACP-ASIM) for undertaking a comprehensive review of the literature relating to uninsured Americans. People who don't have health insurance--or have coverage that is inadequate--suffer severe consequences, including reduced access to care and substantially poorer health outcomes. This review helps to advance our nation's understanding of these consequences and the urgency of taking action to address the growing lack of health insurance in America.
America's medical schools and teaching hospitals know well the plight of America's uninsured and underinsured citizens, because we treat them. While teaching hospitals account for only 6 percent of all hospitals, they provide 44 percent of the hospital-based care to the indigent in this country. From 1988 through 1995, the proportion of patients admitted to major teaching hospitals who were either uninsured or Medicaid recipients increased from 23 percent to 29 percent.
Physicians and other health professionals at medical schools and teaching hospitals witness firsthand the devastating effects lack of insurance can have on an individual's health--delayed discovery of and treatment for breast cancer, substantially poorer health in newborns, and hospitalizations for conditions that could have been prevented entirely with regular care.
The AAMC joins with the ACP-ASIM and other medical and health care organizations to call for immediate national attention to developing a comprehensive solution to this crisis. More than 43 million Americans have no health insurance. We must work together now to ensure that all Americans have appropriate access to health care through insurance or other forms of coverage, before that number grows any larger.
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The Association of American Medical Colleges represents the 125 accredited U.S. medical schools; the 16 accredited Canadian medical schools; some 400 major teaching hospitals, including 74 Veterans Administration medical centers; 91 academic and professional societies representing nearly 88,000 faculty members; and the nation's 67,000 medical students and 102,000 residents.
Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at the AAMC Newsroom.
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