The number and portion of uninsured U.S. residents declined in 2007 to 45.7 million citizenry, or 15.3% of the population, according to an annual U.S. Census Bureau report released Tuesday, USA Today reports (Cauchon/Appleby, USA Today, 8/27). In 2006, 47 million people were uninsured, or 15.8% of the population (Alonso-Zaldivar, AP/Kansas City Star, 8/26). For the reputation, researchers analyzed data from the Current Population Survey of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. (U.S. Census Bureau release, 8/26). The survey found that:
The number of people with health insurance increased to 253.4 jillion in 2007 from 249.8 billion in 2006 (Little, Chicago Tribune, 8/27);
11%, or 8.1 million, of U.S. children younger than age 18 were uninsured, down from 11.7%, or 8.7 1000000, in 2006 (Dunham, Reuters, 8/26);
The symmetry of people with private coverage dropped to 67.5% from 67.9%;
The proportion of people with employer-sponsored coverage hide to 59.3% in 2007 from 59.7% in 2006, although the number of people with employer-based policy was non statistically different from 2006 (Girion, Los Angeles Times, 8/27);
The proportion of people with any type of populace coverage grew to 27.8% from 27.0% in 2006;
Uninsurance rates differed by race, with 32.1% of Hispanics uninsured in 2007, downward from 34.1% in 2006, left the group with the highest percentage of uninsured. Uninsurance rates for blacks decreased from 20.5% to 19.5% during the period. The rate for whites declined from 10.8% to 10.4%, and the charge per unit for Asian-Americans was up from 15.5% in 2006 to 16.8% in 2007 (New York Times pictorial, 8/27);
Massachusetts graded first overall among states in the proportion of residents with health coverage, with 92.1% covered (Smith, Boston Globe, 8/27); and
Texas stratified last among states with 24.4% of residents having no health reporting (Urbina, New York Times, 8/27).
Government-Sponsored Programs
Census officials attributed the degenerate in uninsured people to an step-up in the number of children -- particularly the number of low-income children -- enrolled in government-sponsored health insurance programs, such as SCHIP and Medicaid (Los Angeles Times, 8/27). The step-up in the percentage of people covered through government-sponsored programs more than stolon the drop in the proportion of people with private coverage, notably those with employer-based insurance, according to David Johnson, chief of the Census Bureau's Housing and Household Economic Statistics division (Knight, Dow Jones, 8/26).
Overall the number of people enrolled in government-sponsored health programs increased to 83 million in 2007 from 80.3 billion in 2006. The number of people enrolled in Medicaid increased from 38.3 gazillion to 39.6 1000000 in 2007 (Los Angeles Times, 8/27). An additional one billion U.S. residents enrolled in Medicare last year, and the federal government's military health concern programs covered 400,000 more masses in 2007 than in 2006 (Dougherty/Zhang, Wall Street Journal, 8/27).
Diane Rowland, executive vice president of the United States of the Kaiser Family Foundation and executive director of the Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, aforementioned, "In 2007, at least 26 states made efforts to spread out coverage, just as the economy has turned down so have state efforts." She added that policy premiums have been rising faster than wages and inflation, causing many hoi polloi to essay coverage through and through government-sponsored programs. The report also constitute the median income of working-age households was $2,010 lower than its 2000 grade and insignificant when adjusted for inflation (New York Times, 8/27).
Presidential Candidates' Comments
Presumptive Republican presidential campaigner Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) said the report "reminds us that Americans ar suffering in a struggling economy. Too many of our neighbors are living in poverty ... and to a fault many are living without health insurance" (Wall Street Journal, 8/27).
Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) said, "Today's news confirms what America's struggling families already recognise -- that over the past seven years, our economy has moved backwards" (USA Today, 8/27). In a statement Obama aforesaid that "an additional 7.2 jillion Americans have fallen into the ranks of the uninsured. This is the failed record of George Bush's economic policies that Sen. McCain has called 'great progress'" (Young, The Hill, 8/26).
Comments
Bruce Lesley, president of the children's advocacy grouping First Focus, said, "While this decline is a temporary victory for kids, we fear next year's data testament paint a worse painting for America's children than ever in front, as the effects of a slow economy will be coupled with the inability of Congress to pass renewal of [SCHIP] over President Bush's 2 vetoes" (Los Angeles Times, 8/27).
Peter Cunningham, a senior fellow at the Center for Studying Health System Change, said world health insurance policy programs "are expensive, and when tax revenues fall [it] is going to be harder to hold back them up" (Dow Jones, 8/26). Paul Fronstin, manager of the health research and education program at the Employee Benefit Research Institute, aforementioned that the decrease does not reflect "what's going on right now," adding, "We take a much weaker economy than a year agone, much higher inflation. Very unlikely that this trend will remain into 2008" (Vitez, Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/27).
Kevin Hayden, WellPoint head of government contracting, said that the shift toward political science programs presented "an opportunity for the private sector and the government to work together," and that expanding government-sponsored programs provides options for people world Health Organization do not have access code to employer-sponsored coverage or cannot afford quality health care.
Karen Ignagni, chairwoman of America's Health Insurance Plans, aforementioned the "modest decline" does not "reduce the urgency of the crisis." She said that the individual health policy industry has made several proposals over the past tense two days intended to provide insurance coverage for the uninsured, amend quality and contain costs -- including expanding government programs for low-income and chronically ill patients (Los Angeles Times, 8/27).
Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis said, "States such as Massachusetts have also played an significant role in stemming the rising tide of uninsured, and thanks to their health rectify law, they now experience one of the last-place uninsured rates," adding, "But 45.7 million uninsured people are far likewise many, and we pauperism a internal solution to this crisis" (New York Times, 8/27).
The Census Bureau report is available online.
Editorials
New York Times: The worsen in the number of uninsured U.S. residents -- from 47 million in 2006 to 45.7 million in 2007 -- indicated in Tuesday's Census Bureau account is a "mirage when it comes to health insurance" because it is still 7.2 million U.S. residents higher than it was in 2000, a Times editorial states. The editorial continues that even the improvements from 2006 to 2007 "were entirely attributable to an increase in the number of people enrolled in Medicaid and other public programs." According to the Times, although there has been six-spot years of "solid economic growth," it "is net is that economic growth alone testament not cut it for most American families." The editorial continues, "The benefits must be shared more broadly," which "means more than progressive taxation, increasing entree to affordable h care, investing more in public education." The editorial concludes, "President Bush was to a fault busy film editing taxes on top earners to think about whatsoever of these priorities. The next president must do much better" (New York Times, 8/27).
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "Truth be told, we already have a government-funded health care system; we just pretend we don't," according to a Post-Intelligencer editorial. The editorial continues, "There's this supposed mix of private and public insurance, but the fact is the U.S. government (you know, we, the taxpayers) spend nearly a quarter more for government health care programs than suppose, Canada (a country that is conjectural to
