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.