The Medically Uninsured — Will They Always Be with Us?

Abstract

A constant feature of health care in the United States is our national willingness to tolerate having large numbers of people without health insurance. This is in stark contrast to the situation in virtually every other developed country, where guaranteed health insurance is provided either by the state or through employers, with government backup for the unemployed. In our country from time to time, the issue of expanded health insurance coverage, or even universal coverage, erupts onto the national scene — as it did in 1948, 1965, 1973, and 1993 — usually propelled by public demands for greater security in . . .