More than 46.3 million people in the United States (15.4 percent of the U.S. population) did not have health insurance in 2008 (DeNavas-Walt, Proctor, & Smith, 2009). As a result, many Americans receive little or no health care. Many, but not all, of these people are women and children. Some are destitute, others not. Many of these people are hard-working Americans who can't afford to pay, but make too much money to qualify for their state's Medicaid plans, but who should have access to health care. In 2008, health spending exceeded $2.3 trillion, more than three times the $714 billion spent in 1990 and more than eight times the $253 billion spent in 1980 (Kimbuende, Ranji, Lundy, and Salganicoff, 2010, para. In 2007, 62.1 percent of all bankruptcies in the United States were related to medical expenses. Ironically, 78% of medical bankruptcies were filed by people with health insurance (Himmelstein, Thorne, Warren, & Woolhandler, 2009). Due to rising health care costs and the growing number of uninsured people, most Americans support the need for health care reform; However, the reform proposed by the government is unfair, too costly and inadequate to meet the needs of our population. The United States is the largest developed country in the world that does not guarantee health coverage to its citizens. Countries with guaranteed health coverage or single-payer systems include: Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Japan, Italy, Ireland, Germany, France and Canada. Among these countries, the average health care spending is $4,500 per person, while the United States spends an average of $7,000 per person. In a 2007 study, compared to 27 high-income Democrats...... middle of paper...... 13). Health Care Reform Update [Electronic mailing list message]. Retrieved from http://www.faegre.com/[email protected]&Show=13126 Himmelstein, D., Thorne, D., Warren, E., & Woolhandler, S. (2009). Medical bankruptcy in the United States, 2007: results of a national study (clinical research study). Retrieved from ProCon: http://healthcare.procon.org/Kimbuende, E., Ranji, U., Lundy, J., & Salganicoff, A. (2010). Health care costs in the United States. Retrieved from Kaiser EDU website: http://www.kaiseredu.org/Issue-Modules/US-Health-Care-Costs/Background-Brief.aspxYoung, J. (2010, October 14). UnitedHealth offers Medicare, Medicaid managed care plan to reduce costs [Supplementary Material]. Bloomberg. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-15/unitedhealth-proposed-managed-care-plan-for-medicare-medicaid-for-savings.html