Make better health care coverage election priority, says CHA head

Published: 2006-08-30

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Improving health care insurance coverage should be a major campaign priority in November's elections, said the head of the Catholic Health Association, noting that 46.6 million people in the U.S. are uninsured. "We hope that as the midterm election approaches, people across the country will demand that their candidates for office explain how they will work to expand coverage and access," said Sister Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity. "No one should be denied the opportunity to pursue and achieve the American dream because they were sick and could not afford treatment. This great nation can do better. It must do better," she said. Sister Carol, CHA president and CEO and former head of Providence Hospital in Washington, was commenting on 2005 figures released Aug. 29 by the U.S. Census Bureau. The bureau reported that 46.6 million people in the U.S. are uninsured. This includes 8.3 million children.

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