In August, the U.S. Census Bureau released data indicating that number of uninsured Americans under age 65 fell by 1.5 million from 2006 to 2007. The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured looks at why this decline happened and whether it can last in a new issue paper.
The paper estimates that over 20 percent of the decline reported by the Census Bureau was the result of legislation passed by Massachusetts in 2006 that intends to achieve universal coverage in the state. By 2007, the number of uninsured in Massachusetts had fallen by more than 300,000. National employer coverage rates remained the same from 2006 to 2007, while public coverage increased. The increase in public coverage was most likely the result of improving state revenues, which enabled states to expand eligibility and ease enrollment restrictions.
The paper concludes that a decline in the number of the uninsured “is quite unlikely to continue,” given the economic downturn and an increasing unemployment rate. It projects that the number of uninsured will increase by at least 2 million in 2008.
