Benefits November 15, 2010

EBRI Data Shows Drop in Health Coverage

November 15, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The percentage of nonelderly individuals – those under the age of 65 - in the United States who have health insurance dropped last year.

 

Reported by

According to the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), that percentage dropped from 82.6% in 2008 to 81.1% in 2009.  At the same time, the share of nonelderly Americans who were uninsured grew to almost 19% in 2009, up from 17.4% in 2008 and above 18% for the first time. Not surprisingly, EBRI noted that the recent economic recession and persistent high employment were the main factors behind the shifts.

According to EBRI:

  • 59.0% of the nonelderly had employment-based health coverage in 2009, down from 61.1% in 2008
  • More than 214 million nonelderly individuals had health insurance in 2009, down from 217 million in 2008.
  • The number of uninsured increased from 45.7 million in 2008 to 50 million in 2009.

More information is available at http://www.ebri.org/pdf/briefspdf/EBRI_IB_09-2010_No347_Uninsured1.pdf 

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