Health Insurance :Record number of Americans without health insurance

Author: admin, December 9th, 2011

Affordable Health Insurance NewsAccording to a report from the United States Congress Joint Economic Committee, a record number of Americans lacked health insurance in 2010. United States Senator Bob Casey, D-Pa., chairs the committee, which issued the report on September 13. The

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Affordable Health Insurance News
According to a report from the United States Congress Joint Economic Committee, a record number of Americans lacked health insurance in 2010. United States Senator Bob Casey, D-Pa., chairs the committee, which issued the report on September 13. The percentage of Americans who have health insurance is at its lowest point since 1987, when researchers began to collect the data.

Percent uninsured
The report states that in 2010, 49.9 million Americans, or 16.3 percent of the population, lacked health insurance. The percentage of Americans without coverage has increased by 1.6 percent since 2007.

Private coverage
According to the report, the number of Americans with private insurance coverage has steadily decreased since 2000. Job losses during the recession have resulted in 8.3 million fewer Americans with employment-related health insurance. Between 2008 and 2010, the percentage of Americans with job-based health insurance dropped from 58.9 to 55.3 percent. In 2010, 20.2 million full-time employees and 7.8 million part-time employees lacked health insurance. Between 2009 and 2010, the number of direct purchases of private health insurance increased from 9.6 to 9.8 percent of the American population.

Public coverage
The percentage of Americans with public health insurance increased by 1.7 percent, or 7.4 million people, between 2008 and 2010. In 2010, 31 percent of the American population had public health insurance coverage, such as Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Young adults
Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, 1.6 percent more young adults had health insurance coverage in 2010 than in 2009. Since September 2010, a provision has allowed 19- to 25-year-olds to retain dependent status for health insurance purposes. Between 2009 and 2010, the number of insured adults in this age group increased by 29.7 percent.

Children
One in 10 American children lacks health insurance coverage; however, 571,000 more children had health insurance coverage in 2010 than in 2007. Between 2007 and 2010, the number of children enrolled in Medicaid increased by 5.1 million, and the number of children enrolled in CHIP increased by 608,000. In 2010, 3.4 million fewer American children had private coverage than in 2007.

Minorities
The percentage of Hispanic Americans without health insurance decreased from 33.1 percent in 2006 to 30.7 percent in 2010, but the percentage of African Americans without coverage increased from 18.6 percent to 20.8 percent between 2007 and 2010. Minorities are less likely to have health insurance than white people.

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Categories: Health Insurance Information Tags: Health Care