Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Coverage & Access
    Rate of Uninsured Remained Steady at About 15.7% Between 2003, 2004, Census Bureau Research Says

      The number of uninsured people in the U.S. increased by 800,000, to 45.8 million people, in 2004, but the percentage of uninsured remained unchanged from 2003 at 15.7%, according to the Census Bureau's annual report on poverty, health insurance and income, the Detroit Free Press reports. The report, released Tuesday, found that:

  • 59.8% of people received employer-sponsored health care coverage in 2004, compared with 60.4% in 2003 (Norris, Detroit Free Press, 8/31);

  • The percentage and number of children who were uninsured remained unchanged between 2003 and 2004 at 11.2%, or 8.3 million;

  • The Midwest had the lowest uninsured rate in 2004 at 11.9%; the Northeast had an uninsured rate of 13.2%; the West, 17.4%; and the South, 18.3%;

  • Uninsured rates remained unchanged in 2004 for whites (11.3%), blacks (19.7%) and Latinos (32.7%);

  • The rate of uninsured Asians declined from 18.8% in 2003 to 16.8% in 2004;

  • 33.7% of foreign-born residents were uninsured in 2004, the same as in 2003, but the rate for the native-born population increased from 13.0% in 2003 to 13.3% in 2004 (CQ HealthBeat, 8/30);

  • 27.2% of the U.S. population received health coverage through government programs such as Medicaid in 2004, compared with 26.6% in 2003 (Weisman/Connolly, Washington Post, 8/31); and

  • The poverty rate in 2004 increased by 1.1 million people to 12.7%, mostly concentrated in the Midwest (Miller/Paulson, Christian Science Monitor, 8/31).

Reaction
Robert Greenstein, executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said that the Census Bureau's findings are "disappointing, as they follow three years of successive deterioration in health insurance coverage," adding, "It is sobering that six million more people lacked health insurance in 2004 than in 2000" (CQ HealthBeat, 8/30). He said, "The new data are particularly troubling for working people, showing backward movement for most workers" (Kowalczyk, Boston Globe, 8/31). According to Diane Rowland, Kaiser Family Foundation executive vice president and executive director of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, other research suggests that fewer employers are offering health insurance to employees. "If Medicaid had not been offsetting some losses in the employer-based coverage, you would be seeing potentially another one million or 1.5 million more uninsured," Rowland said (Washington Post, 8/31). Health Policy Director for Families USA Kathleen Stoll questioned a plan to reduce federal Medicaid spending by $10 billion over five years, saying, "We have a growing crisis. We aren't looking at solutions to the crisis. We're looking at cutting back the very program that has cushioned that impact" (Detroit Free Press, 8/31). Christina Martin Firvida, senior counsel with the National Women's Law Center, said, "So many families are now being insured and are receiving health coverage from the government. They're only going to get worse if those kinds of cuts are allowed to go through in September" (Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle, 8/31). Karen Ignagni, president and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans, suggested that Congress reduce the number of uninsured by "focus[ing] on reforming the medical liability system, aligning incentives with the quality of care delivered and ensuring the delivery of care that is based on the best scientific evidence" (CQ HealthBeat, 8/30). Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute, said, "Medicaid has been expanded so much it includes a lot of people who could afford private coverage" (Washington Post, 8/31).

The report is available online. Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the report.

A HealthCast of a news conference on the research is available online.