California Endowment President Addresses Issue of Uninsured at News Conference
The issue of the uninsured in the United States should concern all residents because people "are one pink slip away from being uninsured," Robert Ross, president of the California Endowment and former director of the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency, said at a news conference on Monday to launch "Cover the Uninsured Week," the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
The conference, held in Pacific Beach, included more than 20 organizations, such as the San Diego County Medical Society, the diabetes-management program Project Dulce and United Domestic Workers.
During his speech, Ross said that health care for the uninsured is "the single most frustrating issue" he handled as county health director from 1993 to 2000. Ross said that the "political will to resolve" the problem does not exist.
Gregory Knoll, director of the Consumer Center for Health Education and Advocacy, said, "This is an untenable situation here and across the nation that's only getting worse. If this were a disease like the flu, which kills people every day, people would be up in arms. ... We should demand action again and again and again until somebody listens" (Clark, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5/3).