Wisconsin Caught in Health Care Crisis

Wisconsinites Caught in Health Care Crisis
Baldwin Brings Constituents' Personal Stories to the House Floor

For the third, straight year, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin is bringing the words and worries of Wisconsin's uninsured to the halls of Congress. As the nation observes Cover the Uninsured Week 2006 (see www.covertheuninsuredweek.org), Baldwin has asked colleagues to join her in telling the stories of average Americans who face extraordinary and devastating challenges due to a lack of adequate or any health care coverage.

"The lack of comprehensive and affordable health care affects people in every Congressional district in every state," said Baldwin. "Currently, almost 47 million Americans have no health insurance and countless more are underinsured. That's an 18% increase in uninsured in just five years. We must no longer turn our backs while millions lack access to health care and that number continues to rise. I am committed to achieving this goal," Baldwin said.

During time set aside after this evening's last votes in the House of Representatives, Baldwin will read into the Congressional Record the first person accounts of residents of Stoughton, Janesville, Waterloo, Mount Horeb, Deerfield, Baraboo, Portage, and Madison, Wisconsin who are struggling and suffering without an insurance safety net.

These include:

* Susan, a single woman in Baraboo with breast cancer who lost her job and cannot get insurance;
* Tom, a married man in Janesville, who lost his family health insurance along with his job and whose wife has cancer;
* Heather, a nursing student in Waterloo who has only limited coverage and fears what would happen if a major medical problem arose;
* Vic, of Stoughton, who says his wife was "carved out" of his employer's good health care policy because she has her own coverage that he says is "sub-standard junk" and "covers virtually nothing;"
* Kim, a married mom in Madison who wrote Baldwin when she was five months pregnant with her second child and, "because of this pre-existing condition" could not buy affordable health care coverage;
* Suzanne of Stoughton who was over 60, running out of COBRA coverage, and, because of a "pre-existing condition," was unable to find affordable health care coverage;
* Brad of Mount Horeb, who was refused coverage "because of past health history" and whose three year old daughter needed asthma medication;
* Pat of Madison who has to choose between heating her home, buying food, and buying prescription medication; and
* Roberta of Janesville who needed dental surgery and would have needed to take out a loan before her dentist would operate. "As a result," she wrote, "I will not get this procedure done. Something drastically needs to change in the United States of America where hard working individuals and families can get the treatment they need without going broke."

Baldwin recently announced that she is leading a bipartisan working group of Members of Congress and policy experts who are seeking innovative ways to ensure health care coverage for all. The group plans to introduce bipartisan legislation during this session of Congress.

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