September 2006
- New income and health insurance data for 2005
- The Center for American Progress and The Center for American Progress Action Fund Activities
- Health Care Reform In the News
- Join Us
The Center for American Progress and The Center for American Progress Action Fund are dedicated to advancing affordable health coverage for all Americans by working to bring public focus, media attention, and policy community engagement to this issue.
CENSUS NUMBERS
The Census Bureau’s 2005 Current Population Survey (CPS) data on income and health insurance, released in late August, demonstrated a steady and serious decline in employer-sponsored health insurance. Approximately 46.6 million Americans were uninsured in 2005—about 10 million more than the number of elderly in America and 20 million more than the number of residents in Iraq.
Further results include:
- The number of uninsured increased to 46.6 million in 2005, 1.3 million more than in 2004, and 6.8 million more than in 2000.
- The rate of uninsured children rose for the first time in five years: 8.3 million children lacked health insurance in 2005, 11.2 percent of all children.
- Over one in five (20.5%) non-elderly adults lacked health insurance in 2005, up by 6.8 million since 2000.
- The rate of employer coverage dropped between 2004 and 2005. People who work full time were hard-hit: a million more full-time workers were uninsured in 2005. Since 2000, over 3 million people have lost employer-based insurance, and the rate of uninsured, full-time workers has increased by 13 percent.
- Workers in small businesses were most likely to lose health insurance—in 2005, there were more uninsured workers in small firms than workers actually covered by those firms (13.5 versus 13.0 million).
- The increase in the uninsured since 2000 is three times greater than the job growth over the same period: 6.8 million uninsured versus 1.9 million new jobs between December 2000 and December 2005.
- The increase in the uninsured is nearly three times the increase in new homeowners (6.8 million new uninsured versus 2.4 million more home owners in 2005 than 2000).
The ritual late-summer release of national health insurance data demonstrates that the problem—the number of Americans who live without the economic and emotional security of affordable health coverage—has increased among workers and other adults, crossing age brackets and income groups, thus making incremental policies like covering all children important but insufficient to solve the problem. Policy makers should commit to providing all Americans with affordable coverage, reducing costs, and prioritizing prevention.
UPCOMING HEALTH CARE EVENTS:
October 10th -
Missoula, Montana
Affordable Health Coverage and Young Americans
Featured Speaker: Senator Tom Daschle, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress.
Why should college students and other young Americans care about the nation’s health coverage crisis? How will health system reform affect their lives—today and in the future? This event will encourage young Montanans to make providing affordable coverage for all Americans a priority for their generation.
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location:
The Loft
424 N. Higgins Avenue,
Missoula, Montana
HEALTH CARE REFORM IN THE NEWS:
Editorial Response on the new Census numbers on income, poverty, and health insurance data for 2005:
“The nation needs sweeping health reforms that arrest runaway costs and assure coverage for all, particularly workers forced to choose between health care and other life necessities.” USA TODAY
“What have been missing are government policies that help to ensure that the benefits of growth are broadly shared — like strong support for public education, a progressive income tax, affordable health care, a higher minimum wage and other labor protections.” New York Times
“New numbers from the Census Bureau show what a disaster the economic policies of the Bush administration have been for middle-class, working-class and poor Americans.” New York Daily News
Join Us
Affordable health coverage provides minimal level of economic security for all Americans and allows them to save for retirement, plan for their children’s education, or buy a home. It’s wrong for anyone who works hard and plays by the rules to go without health care or be driven into economic hardship by health care costs. Please become a health champion today to join our efforts and track our progress.
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