<font color=brown> The numbers of Americans without health insurance has increased dramatically under Bush. Whereas in the late 90s only 14% of Americans did not have health coverage, that figure is now up to nearly 40%! <font color=black>
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Study: Millions Have Lost Coverage
by John A. MacDonald
WASHINGTON -- Nearly 9 million Americans lost their employer-provided health insurance from 2001 to 2003, with low-income workers and Latinos feeling the biggest impact, says a study released today.
The economic downturn that started in 2001, as well as a 28 percent increase in the cost of insurance, spurred the coverage decline, the study says. The stronger economy now emerging could halt the slide but is unlikely to lead to a substantial increase in coverage over the long term.
"Health care costs - and health insurance premiums - continue to outpace workers' incomes by a large margin," said Bradley C. Strunk, co-author of the study released by the Center for Studying Health System Change, a nonpartisan research group. "Such rapid growth will continue to strain employers and make private insurance less and less affordable."
Health care has emerged as a key economic issue in the presidential campaign, and the new figures are likely to reinforce its importance. Democratic candidate John F. Kerry has advanced a plan that would significantly reduce the number of uninsured - now 44 million - but would require repealing the tax cuts for wealthy Americans that President Bush pushed through Congress. The president has defended the tax cuts while offering a proposal that would modestly lower the number of uninsured.
A recent Gallup Poll showed Americans, by 54 percent to 37 percent, believe Kerry would do a better job than Bush on health care.
Today's study looks at the percentage of Americans under age 65 covered by employer-provided insurance. Overall, it finds the number with such coverage dropped from 67 percent in 2001 to 63.4 percent in 2003, leaving 8.9 million fewer people insured.
Public plans, such as Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, largely offset the decline in private coverage so the percentage of uninsured Americans did not change significantly overall, the study said. During the study period, the percentage of working-age Americans enrolled in public programs increased from 9 percent to 12 percent.
"Clearly, public insurance programs provided a safety net for millions of people - especially children - who otherwise probably would have lost coverage as the country moved through a recession and a jobless recovery," said Paul B. Ginsburg, president of the nonpartisan center.
Perhaps ominously, the Kaiser Family Foundation, another private health care research organization, reported last week that enrollment in the state children's plan declined in the second half of 2003 for the first time since the program was enacted in 1997. The decline reflected the economic downturn and a significant drop in state revenues to finance coverage, Kaiser researchers said.
The center's study makes these additional points:
All age groups experienced a decline in employer coverage, but the changes were particularly pronounced for young adults age 19 to 39. For that group, coverage declined from 64.9 percent to 59.4 percent over the two-year period.
Insurance coverage for workers with family incomes less than twice the federal poverty level - $36,800 for a family of four - declined from 37.4 percent to 32.5 percent.
Latinos were the least likely among major ethnic groups to have employer-provided coverage. The percentage of Latinos with employer-provided insurance dropped from 46.7 percent to 39.7 percent during the study period.
While the public agrees that all Americans should have access to insurance coverage, it is divided about how large a role the government should have in addressing the issue, a Kaiser foundation study says.
A Kaiser poll released in June found Americans far more concerned about rising insurance prices than about the increasing number of people without insurance.
hschange.org |
