30 Million Uninsured Americans and proposed solution Author Institution Introduction The importance of insurance and especially medical insurance cannot be gainsaid as far as safeguarding the health of the nation is concerned. Indeed, it is recognized that health insurance lowers the cost that an individual would incur in case he or she suffers from an ailment or is admitted in hospital. However, recent trends pertaining to the uptake of insurance have been worrying. Research shows that there has been a consistent increase in the number of uninsured Americans with studies showing that 16 million, 29 million, and 30 million Americans had no insurance cover in 2003, 2010, and 2012 respectively (Fitzgerald, 2013). This has been mainly attributed to the relatively high cost of insurance, which makes it impossible for individuals to afford insurance policies. This underlines the fact that any strategy that aims at increasing the uptake of insurance in the United States would have to target the affordability of insurance policies. Proposed solutions According to Ferrara (2010) reforming Medicaid is the preliminary step towards the reduction of the number of uninsured Americans. This i