Cover the Uninsured Week

COVER THE UNINSURED WEEK -- (Extensions of Remarks - May 19, 2004)

SPEECH OF
HON. JOE WILSON
OF SOUTH CAROLINA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 2004

Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, last week was Cover the Uninsured Week, I rise today to salute an organization which is working to do just that, working to provide assistance to some of the 44 million Americans who can not afford health insurance today.

Dr. Dana Kuhn, President and Co-founder of Patient Services Incorporated (PSI), is a policy entrepreneur who thinks outside the box on how to provide health insurance coverage for those with chronic and catastrophic illnesses. PSI has successfully found a potential solution to this epidemic problem, which affects 44 million of our fellow Americans.

Since PSI was established in 1989, this national non-profit has worked with struggling families afflicted with such disorders as Hemophilia, Alpha One Antitrypsin Deficiency, Colorectal Cancer and Breast Cancer, Crohn's Disease, and Immune Deficiencies, just to name a few. PSI assists by identifying health insurance policies as well as subsidizing the health insurance premiums and pharmacy co-payments for these families. PSI is financially supported through private donations from individuals, pharmaceutical manufacturers, foundations, and other corporations and uses these donations to ensure affordable health insurance coverage for the uninsured and underinsured.

PSI has a 15-year success rate of putting the uninsured and underinsured back to work by providing a bridge from insecurity and disease to one of accessing affordable duality health care therapies. During its 15 years of existence, PSI has helped about 20,000 Americans. The PSI model works to provide Americans with millions of dollars worth of medical care for just 5% of the total cost of care.

PSI saves middle-class families from becoming financially devastated when they have a family member with an expensive chronic illness. It is the only non-profit of its kind providing health insurance premium assistance and pharmacy copayment assistance. In 2002, PSI received a positive Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General Opinion for the work it does with Medicare Part B Copayments, Deductibles, and Medigap Premiums.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to salute Dr. Kuhn and the staff of Patient Services Incorporated for their hard work and resourcefulness in developing a workable solution for the epidemic of uninsured Americans.