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A Proposed Role for the Individual Physician as Advocate

Lawrence C. Kleinman, MD

JAMA. 1991;265(15):1991-1992.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

UNIVERSAL access to health care is a social goal, yet one in seven Americans is estimated to be without health insurance, and millions more have inadequate insurance. A deficit in health care provision exists, with deleterious consequences.^1,2 Most of the uninsured live in families in which at least one person is employed. Even the most well-to-do among the uninsured may be within one illness of destitution. Medically indigent and underserved populations defy stereotypes. They range from working men to pregnant women.^3,4 Minorities, the elderly, children, women, veterans of the armed forces, persons with handicaps or chronic illness, and members of other vulnerable populations have joined those disproportionately excluded from health care.

Data suggest that the more unequal the distribution of wealth within a country, the more the excess burden of mortality falls on the poor.⁵ Health outcomes in certain ethnic groups continue to be poor through the . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, UCLA.

Footnotes
This article begins a new column. The reader is referred to the May 15, 1991, issue, which will be dedicated to caring for the uninsured and underinsured.

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Reprint requests to Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, UCLA, B-973 Louis Factor Bldg, 10833 Le Conte Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1685 (Dr Kleinman)

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