Forty-seven million people lack health insurance — and if we don’t act now, that number will become 56 million over the next five years. In fact, in New York state, 2.6 million people are uninsured. This isn’t just a national problem, it’s a crisis which touches all of us. Locally, our health care organizations work each day to provide care for uninsured and underinsured patients. We are proud of the great work our associates and medical staff do to ensure our patients receive the care they need. But, we cannot solve the problem of the uninsured and underinsured alone. Even as nonprofit organizations, we still must pay salaries and balance our books. Together, these conflicting realities make us particularly sensitive to the economic and human damage being done by the system as it now stands. The odds of real reform are better now than they have been in decades. During this campaign year, we strongly encourage you to carefully evaluate each reform proposal.