Posts Tagged ‘US Census Bureau’

Uninsured Americans Total 9.4 Percent of the Population in 2009

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

The number of Americans with no health insurance climbed in 2009, along with a rising poverty rate.As Congress debated healthcare reform, the number of Americans who lack healthcare insurance climbed approximately 9.4 percent to 50.7 million people in 2009.  According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, 16.7 percent of Americans have no healthcare insurance compared with 15.4 percent — or 46.3 million people — the previous year.

During the same time period, the poverty rate in the United States rose to 14.3 percent, the highest level since 1994. The 2008 rate was just 13.2 percent.  This means that 44 million Americans – one in seven people – are living in poverty, an increase of four million over the previous year.  Children were especially hard hit, with one in five under the age 18 living in poverty, according to the Census Bureau.

“This is the highest number of uninsured since 1987, the first year that comparable uninsured data was collected,” said David Johnson, chief of the Census Bureau’s Household Economic Statistics Division.  The report includes conclusions from the 2010 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement.

Census Bureau statistics reveal that the number of Americans covered by private health insurance fell from 201 million to 194.5 million in 2009 compared with the previous year.  Employment-based health insurance fell from 176.3 million covered to 169.7 million.  Meanwhile, Americans with government health insurance rose to 93.2 million from 87.4 million.

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“Barely Hanging On”

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

Study finds that middle-class Americans are losing their healthcare coverage. Middle-class Americans are losing their healthcare insurance at a faster rate than other income earners. This finding was reported in “Barely Hanging On”, prepared by the University of Minnesota’s State Health Access Data Assistance Center.  The report was commissioned by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as part of its yearly Cover the Uninsured Week and analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Health and Human Services.

According to the study, three million fewer middle-income Americans had healthcare insurance provided by their employers in 2008 when compared with 2000.  Two-thirds of families earning between $45,000 and $85,000 a year were insured by their employers in 2008, a seven percent drop from 2000.

The study also found that costs had risen 81 percent between 2000 and 2008.  During the same timeframe, household incomes fell 2.5 percent.  Additionally, fewer workers were offered or could afford employer-provided coverage.

“America’s uninsured crisis means that hard-working people with average incomes are being squeezed,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s president and CEO.  “The fallout from rising health insurance costs hits everyone.”

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American College of Physicians Comes Out in Favor of Reform

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Without healthcare reform, healthcare spending could reach 25 percent of GDP in just 15 years. The American College of Physicians (ACP) is urging Congress and the Obama administration to move ahead and pass healthcare reform legislation.  ACP, whose membership includes 129,000 internists, internal medicine subspecialists, medical students, residents and fellows, offers this advice:  “Don’t start over.”

“Let’s take the bills passed by the House and Senate and make them even better,” urges Bob Doherty, the ACP’s senior vice president of government affairs and public policy.  “We shouldn’t toss them out and start from scratch.”  An ACP report warns of the costs of failure to pass healthcare reform, quoting Congressional Budget Office projections that healthcare spending will climb to 25 percent of GDP by 2025.  Similarly, the Census Bureau has warned that the number of the uninsured will soar to 60 million Americans by 2020 if reform does not occur.

ACP President Joseph Stubbs notes that “A highly partisan and polarized debate over healthcare reform legislation has regrettably taken the country’s ‘eye off the ball’ from the urgency of implementing reforms.”  The ACP advocates building on existing legislation to reach ultimate agreement on a bill and create bipartisan proposals to cut the costs of the medical liability tort system with the goal of increasing the number of primary-care physicians.

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Individual Health Insurance Policies Cost Less in Chicago Suburbs

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

Study shows wild disparity in pricing between Chicago suburbs and the city. A study has found that people living in Chicago’s inner-ring suburbs – towns like Oak Park, Evanston, Berwyn and Oak Lawn – have access to individual healthcare insurance quotes that average 14.6 percent less  than people living within city limits. According to data compiled by Norvax, Inc., a technology firm that serves the healthcare insurance industry, people who live 15 to 25 miles from downtown Chicago pay 12 to 15 percent less on their monthly premiums.  Move out another 25 or 40 miles from the city and premium rates are 20 to 30 percent less.

Norvax makes software that lets individuals search the lowest or best-priced private coverage offered by insurance brokers and agents.  Its public exchange, which has more than 80 insurance carriers, operates as Go Health Insurance. The research was based on data culled from running GoHealthInsurance.com quotes for 3,029 zip codes and 963 health insurance plans available in Illinois.  Later, Norvax narrowed the field of research solely to the Chicago area.

The most unexpected result is that residents of Chicago’s southern and western suburbs, many of which are considered to be blue-collar, pay 24.5 percent less for healthcare insurance than their city-dwelling counterparts.  By contrast, suburbanites living north of the city pay 14.6 percent less.

According to Judy Dugan, research director for public policy advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, Norvax’s research proves that today’s individual-coverage insurance market “is the Wild West” because the customized coverage available is not regulated.  “It’s one reason we need healthcare reform – to get rid of this kind of weird disparity in pricing,” she said.

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