A report released Tuesday said five people die every week in
Wisconsin because they lack health insurance. Another recent report highlighted
a different potential problem in the system ? the ?severe? shortage of available
beds for psychiatric inpatients.

The report by Families USA, a national consumer
organization, showed that for uninsured Wisconsin adults between the ages of 55
and 64, lack of insurance is the third leading cause of death, behind heart
disease and cancer.

Kathleen Stoll, director of health policy at Families USA,
said one of the main goals of the study was to make it easier to comprehend
some of the statistics behind health insurance coverage.

?What our report is trying to do is put this in terms people
can understand,? Stoll said. ?We need to find the political will in this
country to address this issue.?

Robert Kraig, director of the public affairs and organizing
department for Citizen Action of Wisconsin, agreed with Kroll that the report
will make it easier to understand the numbers behind the issue.

?We all know that if you don?t have access to medical care
you are more likely to get sick,? Kraig said. ?The report really brings the
hidden tragedy out in the open.?

Spokesperson for the Wisconsin Department of Health and
Family Services Claire Smith said improving health care coverage for all
citizens of Wisconsin is a high priority.

?We find it fairly appalling that anyone would die due to
lack of health coverage,? Smith said. ?Governor Doyle is working hard to make
sure everyone has access to health care.?

Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, said he finds it hard to
believe groups can make any claims from the data that the deaths are due to
lack of insurance.

?Wisconsin has some of the best health care in the United
States. We have BadgerCare and now BadgerCare Plus,? Suder said. ?I?m not sure
you can make the leap to lack of health care coverage. It?s an interesting
political tactic. I?ve seen this same song and dance before.?

The BadgerCare Plus program is targeted at making sure
children have access to health care. The DHFS will try next to make sure
childless adults ages 19 to 65 are covered.

?It was a priority to start with kids to make sure they start
their lives healthy and happy. In 2009 and 2010 we?ll be expanding to childless
adults,? said Smith. ?It?s the governor?s goal to make sure that 98 percent of
residents have access to health care.?

The Senate passed a bill last summer that would have made
health care mandatory for all residents, but it was never brought up by the
Assembly. Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, said the measure, dubbed ?Healthy
Wisconsin,? will be brought up again in the future.

?We?re working on modifying the plan and entering in the next
session,? Risser said. ?I?m a strong believer of finding a health care plan
that covers everyone.?

The report also found from 2000 to 2006 more than 1,600
Wisconsin residents between the ages of 25 and 64 died because they did not
have health insurance.

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Number of beds for psychiatric inpatients dwindles

A report from Treatment Advocacy Center said the
availability of beds across the nation has diminished by 20-1 since 1955.

According to the report, Wisconsin would need 2,048 more
beds to meet the minimum standards of treatment set by the TAC.

Dr. Rod Miller, mental health services spokesperson at DHFS,
thinks the report?s standard of 50 beds per 100,000 people may be a little high
for Wisconsin.

The decline has been attributed to a variety of reasons,
chiefly the amount of outpatient and community level treatments that are
available now that were not available in 1955.

?I think arguably, the pendulum may have swung too far, and
we ended up with fewer beds to serve the needs,? Miller said.

Miller also said the inpatient approach can be rather
expensive, especially when other options exist.

?There are alternatives, and we keep working on those.
Wisconsin has good community services,? Miller said. ?The bottom line is you
don?t want to have to use an inpatient bed when you don?t have to. It should
only be used when other alternatives have not been successful.?

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