Health insurance cover should be extended to all American citizens, concludes a new report from the US Institute of Medicine.

The institute's sixth and final report on the impact of the lack of health insurance on health care calls on the president and Congress to “develop a strategy to achieve universal insurance coverage and to establish a firm schedule to reach this goal by 2010.”

The earlier reports detailed the consequences of the lack of health insurance for individuals, the stress it places on the healthcare system, and the …