Medical Care of the Poor — A Growing Problem

The problem of providing medical care to the uninsured is being by government efforts to limit budget growth. The federal emphasis cutting social spending has led state governments and professional to address such issues as the size of the uninsured population the predicament of public hospitals that provide most of the uncompensated. Efforts to reduce Medicaid spending have led to a proposal in Congress finance services for pregnant women and infants by restricting hospital for nonpatient care items. Congress has also directed the of Health and Human Services to consider the special needs of that serve a disproportionate share of uninsured patients. Iglehart that provision of care to almost 30 million uninsured persons is a problem needing to be actively addressed. (KIE abstract)