American Medical Association (AMA) President Nancy Nielsen, MD was slated to meet with Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR)and Congressman Michael Burgess (R-TX) today to address the issue of the nation's estimated 47 million uninsured.

As the economy weakens, many Americans lose their health insurance with their jobs. In fact, the most common reason patients have become uninsured since February is because they or someone in their family lost their job, AMA noted.

The American Medical Association and bipartisan members of Congress said the time has come for action on the uninsured, and they come together to make a commitment to act in 2009. The group will call on the next President to work with them, and urge Americans to cast their votes in November with the issue of the uninsured in mind. The AMA will also unveil new uninsured advertisements as part of its "Voice for the Uninsured" campaign.

The meeting was scheduled for Thursday morning, Sept. 18, 2008 at the U.S. Capitol.