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to care. Most of those without insurance have to pay up front before service are rendered. Those unable to pay the full medical bill in cash at time of service can be turned away except in life-threatening events. This is why more than 20% of people without insurance say their normal source of medical care is the emergency room.

Lack of insurance also means less preventive care. This results in diseases being diagnosed after they reach more advanced stages. The mortality rate is higher for individuals without health insurance. Nearly 40 percent of people without insurance are hospitalized for an avoidable condition-the average cost of the avoidable hospital stay is $3,300. One third of the people charge this will have a problem paying their medical bill and will most likely be turned over to a collection agency. Twenty-five percent of uninsured adults will have to change their lifestyle significantly to pay medical bills. Nearly half of bankruptcies are filed because of medical bills.

The impact of uninsured Americans are clear. When medical care is postponed the cost spreads like an untreated disease. Increase mortality, billions of dollars in productivity, increased strain on local and federal governments. The United States spends nearly $100 billion dollars each year to provide uninsured residents with health services. The number of Americans without health insurance continues to rise by one or two tenths of a percent each year for the last two decades.

Today, one out of four people living in New York City have no health insurance. All of them are under the age of 65 and are low-income working adults. Nearly sixty-six percent of low-income families are either African American or Latino. The annual survey of low-income New Yorkers confirms that having a job does not guarantee worker benefits like health insurance. Forty percent of full-time workers living below the poverty line never obtain insurance for themselves. Thirty-percent of the cities low-income residents cannot fill prescriptions-and twenty-five percent were unable to get medical care last year. Young workers tend to elect over benefits instead of health insurance.

Uninsured patients in New York City often go to public health facilities. The city cannot reimburse the public hospitals or local health facilities for all the expenses. Taxpayers have to pick up a large portion of the expense.

In 2005 Mayor Bloomburg campaign promise that he would spend the next four years ensuring every child in the city

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