The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has released a state-by-state study that chronicles how health insurance coverage has deteriorated since the last large-scale attempt at reform was made in 1994.
At the Brink: Trends in America’s Uninsured 1994-2007 reports that 9 million more Americans were uninsured in that 13-year period, 6 million more working people were uninsured, and the average costs paid by an employee for an individual health insurance premium had risen nearly 8 times faster than average U.S. incomes. More children, however, now have insurance as a result of increased coverage through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The rate of uninsured children fell by 13 percent to 9.2 million.
The report’s numbers do not reflect the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs and health insurance during the current financial crisis, cautions Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the RWJ Foundation.
Read the report.
