Protecting the uninsured. Use of state risk-pools. Council on Medical Service
Society already bears a large part of the costs attributable to the lack of
adequate health expense protection for the uninsured, whether through lost
manhours and productivity resulting from the postponement of needed medical
attention or through defraying the economic burden of uncompensated care.
The question, therefore, is not whether such costs should be met, but how
they can be met in a way that best maintains and preserves the health of
the needy while apportioning this cost equitably over all sectors of the
American economy. The Council on Medical Service believes that the
establishment of state risk-pools with the modifications suggested in this
report, coupled with the other AMA policy initiatives identified at the
beginning of this report, will go a long way toward meeting the needs of
the uninsured population.
