By Tien-Shun Lee
Borough health officials and elected leaders kicked off the nationwide “Cover the Uninsured Week” campaign with a town hall meeting at Borough Hall Monday targeting the high percentage of Queens residents who do not have insurance.
“Queens residents, like all Americans without health insurance, face serious consequences,” said Borough President Helen Marshall. “They often delay needed health care, live with illness and die younger than those who have health coverage.
“Now more than ever, as health care costs are rising and families are feeling the pinch of hard economic times, it is important to make meaningful change and reduce the number of people without health insurance.”
Of the city’s five boroughs, Queens has the highest percentage of uninsured, said Marshall, with roughly 33 percent of borough residents between the ages of 18 and 64 without health insurance.
To increase public awareness for the uninsured and to present people with health insurance options, more than 30 enrollment health fairs citywide were planned for this week, in addition to symposiums with business, labor and religious leaders and on-campus discussions between medical practitioners and students.
“What’s important about this day is that we highlight an issue that needs a great deal of attention,” said U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Kew Gardens).
Weiner said too many people, especially illegal immigrants, visit emergency rooms after they become truly sick instead of getting preventive care, which is much less costly.
Oftentimes undocumented aliens are afraid to sign up for low-income insurance programs such as Medicaid and Health Plus because of fears their illegal status might be revealed and they may be deported.
“Things should not get to the point where people have to go to the emergency room for basic health services,” said Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing).
When uninsured people rely on emergency rooms for medical care, emergency facilities become overburdened and hospitals pass along the costs to taxpayers, said Weiner.
In a country that is considered the most well-off nation in the world, health care should be a right for all citizens, not a privilege, said Robert Hettenbach, a representative of the North Shore University Hospital of Forest Hills.
“It’s sad when someone comes to the hospitals who is uninsured and they say they tried to fill a prescription, but if they fill the prescription, they won’t have money for rent,” said Hettenbach.
Studies show that uninsured women who develop breast cancer are twice as likely to die as women with breast cancer who have coverage, Hettenbach added. Men without health insurance are nearly 50 percent more likely to be diagnosed at a late stage for colon cancer as men with insurance.
U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-St. Albans) urged the city’s 1.6 million uninsured people to stand together with the insured to demand affordable, accessible health care.
“This kind of event cannot be just one week long,” said Meeks. “This has to be a cause that continues day in and day out.”
Reach reporter Tien-Shun Lee by email at Timesledger@aol.com, or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 155.
