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In Reply: I appreciate the comment about the recent Health Agencies Update, and Dr Weber and colleagues raise a good point. This news brief highlighted a report by the National Association of Community Health Centers, which stated that an estimated 43 million individuals in the United States lack health insurance. The report also noted that in 2002 there were 110.2 million visits to hospital EDs, up from 89.8 million in 1998. The unintended interpretation of the article was that uninsured patients alone account for the strain on EDs. I acknowledge that this is not the message of the report and regret the implication.

Tracy Hampton, PhD
JAMA
Chicago, Ill

Letters Section Editor: Robert M. Golub, MD, Senior Editor.

JAMA. 2005;293:40.

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