U.S. Census Bureau
September 30, 2003
Health Insurance Coverage: 2002
* An estimated 15.2 percent of the population or 43.6 million people were without health insurance coverage during the entire year in 2002, up from
14.6 percent in 2001, an increase of 2.4 million people.
* The number and percentage of people covered by employment-based health
insurance dropped in 2002, from 62.6 percent to 61.3 percent, driving the overall decrease in health insurance coverage.
* The number and percentage of people covered by government health insurance programs rose in 2002,from 25.3 percent to 25.7 percent,largely
from an increase in the number and percentage of people covered by Medicaid (from 11.2 percent to 11.6 percent).
* The proportion of children who were uninsured did not change, remaining
at 11.6 percent of all children, or 8.5 million, in 2002.
* Although Medicaid insured 14.0 million people in poverty, 10.5 million other people in poverty had no health insurance in 2002; the latter group represented 30.4 percent of the poverty population, unchanged from 2001.
* Hispanics (67.6 percent) were less likely to be covered by health insurance than non-Hispanic Whites who reported a single race (89.3 percent), Blacks who reported a single race (79.8 percent), and Asians who reported a single race (81.6 percent).
* Among the entire population 18 to 64 years old, workers were more likely
to have health insurance (82.0 percent) than nonworkers (74.3 percent).
Among those in poverty, workers were less likely to be covered (52.6 percent) than nonworkers (61.9 percent).
* Compared with 2001, the proportion who had employment-based policies
in their own name decreased from 56.3 percent to 55.2 percent in 2002.
* Young adults (18 to 24 years old) were less likely than other age groups
to have health insurance coverage — 70.4 percent in 2002, compared with
82.3 percent of those 25 to 64 and, reflecting widespread Medicare coverage,
99.2 percent of those 65 and over.
* Spells without health insurance, measured on a monthly basis, tend to be
short in duration — about three-quarters (74.7 percent) were over within
one year. (But 43.6 million people were without health insurance coverage
during the entire year.)
http://www.census.gov/hhes/hlthins/hlthin02/hlth02asc.html
The New York Times
September 30, 2003
Big Increase Seen in People Lacking Health Insurance
By Robert Pear
Among people living in poverty, 49 percent of those who worked full-time were uninsured.
But middle-income households accounted for most of the increase in the number of uninsured. In households with annual incomes of $25,000 to $74,999, the number of uninsured people rose last year by 1.4 million, to 21.5 million, and the increase was most noticeable among households with incomes of $25,000 to $49,999.
At companies with fewer than 25 employees, only 30.8 percent of the workers
had employer-sponsored insurance in their own names last year, down from
31.3 percent in 2001. The proportion of workers with insurance also declined
at companies with 25 to 99 employees (by 2.4 percentage points, to 54.4 percent) and even at businesses with more than 1,000 employees (by nine-tenths of a percentage point, to 68.7 percent).
Ronald F. Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a liberal-leaning consumer group, said: “It’s hard to grasp the magnitude of the number of uninsured. It exceeds the aggregate population of 24 states.”
Comment: This is what our $1.66 trillion is buying? Puck had it right:
“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”