To the editor:

Hard-working Americans are losing their health care coverage. According to U.S. census data, in 2002 the number of uninsured increased by more than 2 million, the largest one-year increase in a decade. Today, there are nearly 44 million Americans, including 8.5 million children, that have no health care coverage. Eight out of 10 of them either work or are in working families. In Kansas alone, 250,000 adults and children are uninsured.

Reversing this trend and educating Americans about the problem are the goals of Cover the Uninsured Week. Local organizers, including the Douglas County Community Health Improvement Project’s Access to Health Care Task Force, have joined a diverse group of state and national organizations to sponsor a week of activities to help people learn about the issue, find local resources and share their stories.

Cover the Uninsured Week will take place May 10-16. Events taking place in Douglas County include health care agency open houses on May 12 and 14 and a public breakfast on May 11 with Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger.

We can let thousands of Douglas County residents live without health coverage, or we can do something about it. For more information about the problem of the uninsured or about Cover the Uninsured Week events in Douglas County, go to www.CoverTheUninsuredWeek.org

Let’s get America covered.

Jason Wesco,

for the Community Health Improvement Project’s Access to Health Care Task Force