Over 46.3 million people in the United States (15.4% of the US population) did not have health insurance in 2008 (DeNavas-Walt, Proctor, and 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 are not. Many of these people are hard-working Americans who can't afford coverage but make too much money to qualify for their state Medicaid plans but should have access to health care. In 2008, health care 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, & Salganicoff, 2010 , par. 1). In 2007, 62.1 percent of all U.S. bankruptcies were related to medical bills. Paradoxically, 78% of healthcare bankruptcies were reported by people who had health insurance (Himmelstein, Thorne, Warren, & Woolhandler, 2009). Due to rising health care costs and an increase in the number of uninsured people, most Americans support the need for health care reform; however the reform proposed by the government is unfair, too expensive and inadequate to meet the needs of our population. The United States is the largest developed nation in the world that does not provide health coverage to its citizens. Nations that offer guaranteed health coverage or single-payer systems include: Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Japan, Italy, Ireland, Germany, France and Canada. Among these countries the average spending on health care 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 democratic countries… halfway through the paper… 13). Health care reform update [Electronic mailing list message]. Retrieved from http://www.faegre.com/[email protected]&Show=13126Himmelstein, 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). American healthcare costs. 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-activated-care-plan-for-medicare-medicaid-for- Savings.html