In the clamorous debate about health care reform,

one group with much at stake has been strangely absent: people with

disabilities. Yet they are the core of the population that most needs health

care and is most likely to be uninsured or underinsured. Oddly, while the

United States apppears on the verge of major changes in health care, the

conventional proposals do not coherently address the needs of the very groups

whose lives are most intertwined with the health care system.

Both health care reformers and groups representing people with disabilities

bear some responsibility for this inattention. On the one hand, many health