Monday, February 25, 2008

Number of Uninsured Up

Categories: How Many Uninsured?

The number of uninsured people in the U.S. grew by 3.4 million between 2004 and 2006, a time of robust economic growth, largely due to a continued decline in employment-based health insurance. This is the key finding in the latest study by John Holahan of the Urban Institute entitled, "The U.S. Economy and Changes in Health Insurance Coverage, 2000-2006."

Not surprisingly, the declines were greatest among those with lower incomes.

It is worth remembering that every time the cost of health insurance rises by 1%, the number of people with health insurance declines by 200,000 to 300,000 people. During 2004-2006, employer health benefit costs rose by nearly 20%.

It is not surprising that those at the lower end of the income scale, whose wages are most sensitive to benefit cost pressures, are most likely to be impacted.