Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005
U.S. Census Bureau
August 2006
Current Population Reports
Health Insurance Coverage in the United States
Highlights (selected)
* In 2005, 46.6 million people were without health insurance coverage, up from 45.3 million people in 2004.
* The percentage of people without health insurance coverage increased from
15.6 percent in 2004 to 15.9 percent in 2005.
* The percentage of people covered by employment-based health insurance decreased between 2004 and 2005, from 59.8 percent to 59.5 percent.
* While the number of people covered by government health programs increased between 2004 and 2005, from 79.4 million to 80.2 million, the percentage of people covered by government health insurance remained at 27.3 percent.
There was no statistical difference in the number or the percentage of people covered by Medicaid (38.1 million and 13.0 percent, respectively) between 2004 and 2005.
* The percentage and the number of children (people under 18 years old) without health insurance increased between 2004 and 2005, from 10.8 percent to 11.2 percent and from 7.9 million to 8.3 million, respectively. With an uninsured rate at 19.0 percent in 2005, children in poverty were more likely to be uninsured than all children.
http://www.census.gov/prod/2006pubs/p60-231.pdf
Comment:
By Don McCanne, MD
It just keeps getting worse.
Particularly disconcerting is the fact that the only glimmer of hope in recent years had been the increased enrollment of children in Medicaid and SCHIP. But today’s report shows that the number of uninsured children increased by 361,000 between 2004 and 2005, concentrated amongst those living in poverty.
Have we no shame?