It is one of life's little ironies: John Fry works as a health care provider, but he does not have health insurance. He has been on and off different health insurance plans since 1981 when he was involved in a car accident.

"I work more than full-time providing health care for a quadriplegic who requires ten to twelve hours of people working with him a day," said Fry.

He is one of more than 750,000 Missourians without health insurance according to a new study by Families USA. Since 2005, more than 150,000 fewer Missourians are covered by Medicaid. The study also found that ten working adults die each week as a result of having no insurance. Also, more than 115,000 children in Missouri do not have any form of health insurance.

Despite the fact of having no insurance, Fry remains optimistic about life.

"I go on, and I make the day not about me," said Fry. "I make the day about my pet, my cat. I make it about the assignments of work I have coming up."

And from 2000 to 2006, nearly 2,800 Missourians have died because of lack of health care and in 2006 alone, 500 uninsured Missourians died.