U.S. Census Finds 16.3% of Americans Uninsured

U.S. Census Finds 16.3% of Americans Uninsured

Margaret Dick Tocknell, for HealthLeaders Media, September 14, 2011

Statistics released Tuesday, Sept 14 2011, by the U.S. Census Bureau present an unsettling picture of health insurance coverage in the United States.

In 2010, 49.9 million Americans or 16.3% of the total population was uninsured.

http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/HEP-270885/US-Census-Finds-163-of-Americans-Uninsured

U.S. Census Finds 16.3% of Americans Uninsured

U.S. Census Finds 16.3% of Americans Uninsured

Margaret Dick Tocknell, for HealthLeaders Media, September 14, 2011

Statistics released Tuesday, Sept 14 2011, by the U.S. Census Bureau present an unsettling picture of health insurance coverage in the United States.

In 2010, 49.9 million Americans or 16.3% of the total population was uninsured.

http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/HEP-270885/US-Census-Finds-163-of-Americans-Uninsured

Recession Caused Record Drop in Workers With Employment-Based Health Coverage

Recession Caused Record Drop in Workers With Employment-Based Health Coverage

WASHINGTON—In yet another measure of damage from the recent economic recession, new data show

that 2009 marked both the sharpest one-year decline in employment-based health coverage for workingage

Americans, and also the first time in recent history that less than 60 percent of individuals under age

65 had health benefits through a job.

A new report from the nonprofit Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) finds that the percentage of

workers who received employment-based health benefits through their jobs decreased from 53.2 percent

in 2008 to 52 percent in 2009, a 2.4 percent decline. The data also show that during the recession the

percentage of workers with coverage as a dependent fell from 17 percent in 2008 to 16.3 percent in 2009,

a 4.5 percent drop.

Paul Fronstin, director of EBRI’s Health Research and Education Program and author of the report, notes

that unemployment and health coverage are strongly related: When the employment rate falls, health

coverage also falls as jobs—and the health benefits that come with them—are lost. The study found the

decline in coverage corresponded with the rising unemployment rate during the recession, from an

average of 5.8 percent in 2008 to 9.3 percent in 2009, and a high of 10.1 percent during 2009.

Other factors cited in the EBRI report: Fewer employers offered coverage, which means that fewer

workers have access to coverage, and workers’ wages are not keeping pace with health care premiums,

meaning fewer workers with access to coverage are likely to enroll in health plans. Structural changes in

the work force, such as the movement of workers away from manufacturing jobs and from full-time and

full-year work, also contributed to the decline.

The full report appears in the April 2011 EBRI Issue Brief, “The Impact of the 2007−2009 Recession on

Workers’ Health Coverage,” online at www.ebri.org The analysis uses data from 2008 and 2009 that

were collected in the March 2009 and March 2010 Current Population Survey following the 2007−2009

recession.

“As we start to examine the data from 2010, we will be able to determine whether the economic recovery

has started to have an effect on health benefits among workers who lost coverage during the recession,”

said Paul Fronstin, director of EBRI’s Health Research and Education Program and author of the report.

The report notes that the decline in health coverage affected different groups in different ways. Among

the other findings:

Education: Workers with a high school education or less experienced a statistically significant

decline in the likelihood of having coverage. The percentage of workers with less than a high school

education who had health coverage through their job fell from 27.5 percent to 25.6 percent between 2008

and 2009. Similarly, among workers with a high school education, the percentage with coverage through

their job fell from 50.2 percent to 48.4 percent. Neither workers with a college degree nor those with a

graduate degree experienced a statistically significant decline in coverage through their own jobs.

Race/Ethnicity: Workers of all races experienced statistically significant declines in coverage

between 2008 and 2009. The likelihood that non-Hispanic whites had coverage through their own job fell

from 56.2 percent to 55.2 percent. Among non-Hispanic blacks, the percentage with coverage fell from

53.5 percent to 51.9 percent. And among Hispanics of all races, the percentage with coverage through

their own job fell from 39.5 percent to 36.9 percent.

Gender: Both men and women experienced a statistically significant decline in the percentage

with health coverage through their own job. The percentage of men with coverage through their own job

fell from 56.2 percent to 54.3 percent, while the percentage of women with coverage through their own

job fell from 50.1 percent to 49.5 percent.

Age: Workers in nearly all age cohorts experienced a statistically significant decline in the

percentage with health coverage through their own job, with the exception of those ages 18−20 and

55−64. The youngest workers did not experience a statistically significant decline in coverage and were

the least likely age cohort to have coverage through their own job. Conversely, while the oldest age

cohort of workers did not experience a statistically significant decline in coverage, they were the most

likely age cohort to have coverage through their own job.

The Employee Benefit Research Institute is a private, nonprofit research institute based in Washington,

DC, that focuses on health, savings, retirement, and economic security issues. EBRI does not lobby and

does not take policy positions.

PR #922

EBRI on Twitter: @EBRI or http://twitter.com/EBRI Blog: https://ebriorg.wordpress.com/ EBRI RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/EBRI-RSS

Recession impact on health insurance coverage for workers

Recession impact on health insurance coverage for workers

According to a new report released by the Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI), since 2000, there has been a slow erosion in the percentage of individuals under age 65 with employment-based health coverage, 2009 was the first year in which the percentage fell below 60 percent, and marked the largest one-year decline in coverage. Among study findings:

The percentage of workers with coverage through their own job fell from 53.2 percent in 2008 to 52 percent in 2009, a 2.4 percent decline in the likelihood that a worker has coverage through his or her own job.
The percentage of workers with coverage as a dependent fell from 17 percent in 2008 to 16.3 percent in 2009, a 4.5 percent drop in the likelihood that a worker has coverage as a dependent.
These declines occurred as the unemployment rate increased from an average of 5.8 percent in 2008 to 9.3 percent in 2009 (and reached a high of 10.1 percent during 2009).

Source: Employee Benefits Research Institute. “The Impact of the 2007–2009 Recession on Workers’ Health Coverage.” EBRI Issue Brief #356. April 2011. www.ebri.org

Is there a need for Free Medical Clinics?

9 Million U.S. Adults Who Lost a Job With Health Benefits Became Uninsured in the last two years

According to The Commonwealth Fund’s 2010 Biennial Health Insurance Survey, in the last two years, an estimated 9 million working-age adults became uninsured after losing a job with health benefits.

Nearly one-quarter (24%) of working-age adults—an estimated 43 million—reported that they and/or their spouse had lost their job within the past two years
Among respondents who reported a job loss in their family, nearly half (47%) said that either they or their spouse had received health benefits through the job that was lost.
Among respondents who had health benefits through their jobs and lost their jobs, nearly three of five (57%) became uninsured. Just one-quarter were able to go on to their spouse’s insurance or found another source of coverage. Only 14 percent continued their coverage through COBRA.

Source: S. R. Collins, M. M. Doty, R. Robertson, and T. Garber, Help on the Horizon: How the Recession Has Left Millions of Workers Without Health Insurance, and How Health Reform Will Bring Relief—Findings from The Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey of 2010, The Commonwealth Fund, March 2011.

News & Updates

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Arubah is a Hebrew wording meaning ‘Restoration to Sound Health’. That is our mission for the clinic. We want to provide top quality medical services to those who have no other options!

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