Released: August 30, 2006

Ranks of uninsured Americans grow

Source: By Julie Appleby, USA Today

The percentage of people with job-based health insurance dropped again last year, helping push up the level of uninsured Americans to 15.9% of the population, the highest since 1998.

Estimates released Tuesday by the Census Bureau show that 46.6 million people lacked health insurance in 2005, up from 45.3 million in 2004. Unlike in other recent years, there was no increase in the rate of enrollment in government-based programs, such as Medicaid, which had helped to offset declines in private insurance.

Job-based health insurance, which is the way most Americans get their coverage, began falling in 2001, even as health insurance premiums rose at double-digit annual rates. Last year, premium growth averaged 9.2%, lower than in previous years, but still three times inflation.

“It’s especially worrisome because if we get into another economic downturn, there will be even fewer people with access to employer coverage or fewer who can afford it,” says Peter Cunningham, senior fellow with the Center for Studying Health System Change, a non-partisan Washington research group.

Reasons for the decline in job-based coverage are many, including people losing jobs, employers not offering insurance and workers choosing not to enroll.

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