Crisis of 46 million uninsured must be solved now, speakers tell CHA

Published: 2006-06-06

ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) -- A leading health care advocate urged Catholic leaders June 5 to "keep the heat turned up" on the issue of the nation's 46 million uninsured until Congress is convinced that the American public wants it to solve the problem. Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, N.J., said Catholic health care "fielded an army of volunteers" at various events during the recent Cover the Uninsured Week observance, which her foundation coordinates each year. She was joined in a presentation on health care poverty at the Catholic Health Association's annual assembly in Orlando by Anthony R. Tersigni, president and CEO of Ascension Health in St. Louis, who outlined his health system's plan to increase access to health care for all. Rosario Perez, vice president for mission integration at Christus Santa Rosa Health Care in San Antonio, reported on her participation in the Citizens' Health Care Working Group, created by Congress in 2003 to solicit input from the American public on ways to improve and strengthen the U.S. health care system and broaden access.

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