Middle-income losing coverage
Middle-Class Americans Join Ranks of Uninsured in 2006 as Private Coverage Shrinks
Physicians for a National Health Program
August 28, 2007
The U.S. Census Bureau released data today showing that the number of uninsured Americans jumped by 2.2 million in 2006 to 47.0 million people, with nearly all the increase (2.03 million) concentrated among middle-class Americans earning over $50,000 per year, according to an analysis by Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP). (The median household income in 2006 was $48,200).
“Middle-income Americans are now experiencing the human suffering that comes with being uninsured. It makes any illness a potential economic and social catastrophe,” said Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Physicians for a National Health Program noted the following:
- The 2.18 million rise in the number of uninsured is the biggest jump reported by the Census Bureau since 1992.
- There are now more uninsured in the U.S. — 47.0 million — than at any time since passage of Medicare/Medicaid in the mid-1960’s.
- 93% of the increase is among middle and high income families:
Of the 2.18 million increase:
1.398 million (64% of the increase) was in >$75k family income
An additional 633,000 (29% of the increase) was among $50-$75k group
Among full time workers, the number of uninsured increased by 1.230 million (56.4% of the increase).
The doctors’ group said that the only solution to the rising number of uninsured and underinsured is a single-payer national health insurance program, publicly financed but delivered by private doctors and hospitals. Such a program could save more than $400 billion annually in administrative waste, enough to provide high-quality coverage to all and halt the erosion of the current private system.
http://www.pnhp.org/news/2007/august/middleclass_america.php
Comment:
By Don McCanne, MD
The public welfare programs continue to putter along. The dramatic decline in coverage has been primarily in employer-sponsored plans. Therefore it is no surprise that most of the 2 million plus individuals who lost coverage in 2006 were in the middle and upper-middle income sectors.
This Census Bureau study did not attempt to assess the explosion in the rate of underinsurance. The September issue of Consumer Reports states that “43 percent of people with insurance said they were ‘somewhat’ to ‘completely’ unprepared to cope with a costly medical emergency over the coming year.”
The health insurance crisis is no longer simply a welfare issue for low-income individuals. It is now a looming crisis for middle-income America, the majority of us.
We can provide comprehensive care to everyone without spending more than we already are. And the polls do indicate that there is a distinct trend towards greater recognition that a national health insurance program is precisely what we need.
But where are the politicians? In an almost unified voice they have responded to this report by supporting insurance that would cover a portion of lower-income children (SCHIP). Covering more children is certainly a good thing, but isn’t that a pretty feeble response?