We here at New Health Dialogue would like to wish everyone a happy (and productive!) Cover the Uninsured Week. Begun in 2003, by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the initiative seeks to remind us all that whatever week it is, 47 million Americans lack health insurance. And that means they are likely to face lives that are shorter and sicker than the rest of us.

Last year, with more than 3,300 events in all 50 states, Cover the Uninsured Week focused on the 9 million children who lack insurance in our country. (At this time last year, you'll remember, Congress was working on expanding the State Children's Insurance Program but President Bush vetoed the broader version of the program). This year, in addition to fairs, forums, and enrollment events across the U.S., the foundation will be releasing research compiled by the State Health Access Data Assistance Center showing that the cost of insurance has risen far faster than incomes in every state.

We've often emphasized why insurance matters, focusing on facts like the 22,000 deaths each year attributable to a lack of health insurance and the $102 to $204 billion in economic costs from the poorer health and shorter lives of the uninsured. With so many local events from North Carolina to Indiana to Nebraska, Cover the Uninsured Week does a tremendous job of conveying this national issue at a local level and we'd recommend checking out some of the personal stories collected on the website to see just who is affected by our country's failure to cover all Americans (hint: all of us).

The Alliance for Health Reform has updated its useful issue guide to the uninsured to mark the week, as well.