United States Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, spoke at the First Annual Disability Awareness Conference Saturday to discuss recent national legislation to benefit those with disabilities and the possibility of the passage of universal health care under President Barack Obama’s administration.

According to Baldwin, her political career began after witnessing the struggle of those who had inadequate health care coverage, and the issue remains one of her top priorities to this day.

While Baldwin said she believes those without coverage should receive government assistance, she also said the fight was about covering those who are unhappy with their current plan or are underinsured.

“There are millions of Americans who are uninsured … and even more that are underinsured,” Baldwin said.

Baldwin estimated the number of people in the United States without health care insurance at around 47 million, while 50 million are underinsured, a problem they might not even recognize until they face a major health issue.

Although Baldwin said she believes those happy with their current private coverage should not have to switch, she thinks such individuals will also see positive effects from the introduction of a public health care system.

“I believe it will be a way to keep the private health care providers honest,” Baldwin said.

Despite Baldwin’s optimism for the future of universal health care, she said the debate regarding this issue is far from over.

Some Republicans say they are skeptical of universal health care.

“I think that it’s clear when you look around the world that government run health care is of a lower quality and worse for patients,” said state Rep. Robin Vos, R-Racine.

Vos added although the goals of universal access have merit, the government should concentrate more on lowering costs within the current system.

Saturday’s conference was organized by students working out of the McBurney Center and was initially proposed by University of Wisconsin senior Chris Bjorkman.

Bjorkman said the goal of the conference was to “increase peer education on issues surrounding disability and deaf culture.”

She was initially inspired to put on the event after seeing the level of involvement of those volunteering with McBurney’s, and said she was pleased overall with the way the event went.

“The audiences were engaged in the issues,” Bjorkman said. “Also, we had a very nice spread of students and staff present, and I was really happy about it.”

Other audience members, like Neelam Dhadankar, an intern for Disability Rights Wisconsin, also spoke positively about Baldwin’s speech.

“I think it was great … I’ve never been to something like this before and I think it was a great idea to bring her here,” Dhadankar said.

Although many have high hopes for the future of disabled citizen’s rights, some audience members wondered how they could be better heard by legislators.

“There’s a learning curve for members of Congress about disabilities, but the way to have the biggest effect is to talk to them and share your story,” Baldwin said. “There’s no substitute for getting to know those suffering with such problems.”