Nearly three-quarters of emergency physicians say the number of uninsured patients they are treating in the emergency room is rising from previous years, according to a survey by the American College of Emergency Physicians.

Results of the study were released at Harborview Medical Center on May 13 in recognition of Cover the Uninsured Week 2004, an effort by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to promote health coverage for the entire public.

The survey found that 72 percent of ER doctors had seen an increase in the past year of the number of uninsured patients treated. About eight in 10 of the emergency physicians surveyed expect the numbers of uninsured patients to increase again in the next year.

In addition, 74 percent of the physicians surveyed said that their uninsured patients are more likely to die prematurely. Fifty-seven percent said providing basic health insurance coverage to the entire public is the top goal in improving the country's health care system.

The U.S. Census Bureau last year estimated that nearly 44 million people in the United States, including more than 8 million children, had no health care coverage of any kind for an entire year. An estimated 781,600 of those people are in the state of Washington.