• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Consumer group: One-third of Americans had no health insurance for all or part of last two years

Patient Financial Services Weekly Advisor, September 28, 2007

Most presidential candidates say providing health care insurance for more Americans is a campaign priority.

It is no wonder.

The nonprofit Families USA group reports that more than one-third of Americans under the age of 65 had no health insurance for all or part of the last two years, according to a report by Reuters.

Using data from last month's U.S. Census Bureau, the consumer group says 89.6 million people under the age of 65 in the United States went without health insurance at some point during 2006 or 2007. That makes up 34.7 percent of the population under that age.

"The huge number of people without health insurance coverage over the past two years helps explain why health care has become the top domestic issue in the 2008 presidential campaign," Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, says in a statement to Reuters .

Almost two-thirds of people who did not have insurance coverage went without it for six months or more, and 50 percent went more than nine months without insurance.

"The number of uninsured has reached crisis proportions that must be addressed by the President and Congress to ensure that health coverage is available and affordable for all," Pollack says.

To read the story in Reuters, click here.

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive