An August 29th, 2006 article on Center on Budget and Policy Priorities web site, The Number Of Uninsured Americans Is At An All-Time High. Shows beyond a doubt that elected officials have been aware of the rapid decline in the number of people who have insurance in America. This report uses information from the Census Bureau and seems to indicate that there is a correlation with the increase in poverty levels and the decrease in insurance coverage. In particualr, paragraph 4 notes that 17 states were facing significant budget shortfalls in the 2007 fiscal year to the tune of $800 million. That, in turn, equals the cost of covering more than 500,000 low-income children. After noting Congress’s failure to act thus far, paragraph 5 offers this quote:
Between 2004 and 2005, 360,000 MORE children were without health insurance.
This article goes on to provide further details: (see Table 1)
- Number of uninsured individuals has steadily increased from 2001 through 2005.
- Medicaid/SCHIP rose slowly during that same time.
- Employer-sponsored Insurance declined during that time period as did indivually-purchased insurance.
- Medicare and Military Health Care both increased.
It is significant to note that the data also shows that “Insurance coverage declined in the South and the West in 2005, while remaining steady in the Northeast and Midwest. Unfortunately, the South and the West already had poorer health insurance coverage than the other two regions in earlier years, so this further widened the gap between regions. Further information is provided showing 8 states showed significant increases in the number of people with coverage when the data from 2004 & 2005 are compared.
If you look at the data comparing 2000-2001 to 2004-2005, the facts are even scariers as 31 states had higher rates of uninsured.
The declining numbers of those Americans with private health insurance are attributed to the cost of premiums. These increased costs have also resulted in increased Medicaid enrollment.
If you need further information before you are willing to believe that health care is the most significant issue today, go to the 2008 version of this same report: Poverty and Share of Americans Without Health Insurance Were Higher in 2007 – And Median Income from Working-Age Households Was Lower-Than at the Botom of Last Recession.
This second article clearly shows the impact of poverty on healthcare. The worse the economy has gotten, the greater has been the problem with healthcare coverage.
While noting that the number of Americans without insurance dropped slightly from 2006 to 2007 (0.5%), this was due to increased enrollment in Medicare, Medicaid and other public programs. This increased enrollment serves to offset the losses that have resulted from the continuing decrease in the number of people with employer-sponsored coverage. (Lots and lots of part time jobs and the increasing number of small businesses that simply cannot afford the current premiums.)
Further along in this report you will find information to show that the economic growth from 2001 through 2007 was growth for a very small portion of the population but was of such a magnitute that when it is averaged out, it just looks like a reasonable gain across the board. What comes through when you look at the numbers is that the very rich got even richer and poverty enveloped a large portion of the population. When you are looking at overall numbers it looks like the economy overall was doing better. It only takes a few $25,000,000.00 increases in income to make those losses of people in lower income brackets vanish to all but those who are affected by those losses.
The Census data also shows that the increase in poverty was not a result of immigrants. Between 2001-2007, the number of Americans living in poverty increased by 4.4 MILLION. It is specifically noted that “…84 percent of the increase due to an increase in the number of citizens in poverty (and 78 percent due to an increase in the number of poor native-born citizens).
Keeping in mind that the above data only covers through 2007 and the economy has hit quite a few bumps in the road since then, is it any wonder that predictions for the immediate and near future are so dire?
The health-care problem is not a problem of the services delivered by our outstanding medical personnel. Indeed, we have some of the best in the world. Many people from other countries come here for the opportunity to learn specifically for the reason that our doctors and nurses are the best. The health-care problem is one of reasonable access. Reasonable access has been compromised by unbridled greed. A system that was originally designed to help make health care available to all (Blue Cross was the original health care cooperative) became a “big business” where bottom-line became more important than caring about people.
Can we afford to continue to push to get what is best for ME rather than what is best for WE? I wonder what people like Clara Barton, Florence Nightengale, and the family physician that took care of 4 generations of my family would say about the current state of affairs.
A very, very special thank you to all of you medical professionals who go out of your way to help those without insurance. I am sorry that you also lose under the current system. Hopefully, this recent surge in health care reform (an ongoing issue for decades) will help to provide the types of coverage that you obviously feel everyone is entitled to…thank you.
