Uninsured

* Re “Health Plan Could Add Coverage for 1 Million,” June 3: While such incremental health care reforms represent an important step forward, it must be remembered that we today face a crisis of 7 million Californians who are medically uninsured. That means that even under the legislative analyst’s office’s proposal and other reforms now being contemplated the number of uninsured in California will still be nearly 5 million.

The bulk of California’s uninsured population relies on a core group of health care providers. Called “open-door providers” because no one is denied access to the essential services they offer, these important institutions, which include public hospitals, must, in turn, rely on an unstable patchwork of funding that is in steady decline. With the number of uninsured in the state increasing by 50,000 each month, our state’s overburdened and underfunded health care system is being stretched to the limit.

At the same time lawmakers work to expand coverage to more individuals on an incremental basis, they must also provide the resources needed to support the open-door providers.

DENISE K. MARTIN, President

Calif. Assn. of Public Hospitals

and Health Systems, Berkeley