Number of Insured Dropped by One Million

August 26, 2008 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Census Bureau reported that the number of people lacking health insurance dropped by more than one million in 2007.

According to a press release, this was the first annual decline since the Bush administration took office. Census said 45.7 million people (15.3% of the population) were uninsured in 2007 – down 3% from 47 million in 2006. The number of people with health insurance increased to 253.4 million in 2007, compared to 249.8 million in 2006.

The percentage of people covered by employment-based health insurance decreased to 59.3% in 2007 from 59.7% in 2006. The number of people covered by employment-based health insurance (177.4 million) was not statistically different from 2006.

The number of people covered by private health insurance (202 million) did not change appreciably from 2006, according to the announcement. However, the number of people covered by government health insurance increased to 83 million, compared to 80.3 million in 2006.

Rates for 2005-2007 using a three-year average show that Texas (24.4%) had the highest percentage of uninsured, the report said. At 8.3%, Massachusetts and Hawaii had the lowest point estimates for uninsured rates, but they were not statistically different from Minnesota (8.5%), Wisconsin (8.8%) and Iowa (9.4%). In addition, Hawaii was not statistically different from Maine (9.5%).

In addition, Census found the median, or midpoint, household income rose slightly to $50,200 – marking the third consecutive annual increase. The nation’s poverty rate held steady at 12.5%, not statistically different from the 12.3% in 2006.

According to the Census Bureau report, the proportion of people not covered by health insurance is lower among people with higher income. In 2007, 24.5% of people in households with annual incomes of less than $25,000 had no health insurance coverage.

Uninsured rates decreased for each consecutive household income group to 21.1% for households with incomes of $25,000 to $49,999, 14.5% for households with incomes of $50,000 to $74,999, and 7.8% for households with incomes of $75,000 or more.

Among 18- to 64-year-olds in 2007, the percentage of workers (people who worked at some time during the year) with no health insurance coverage was 18.1% - lower than the 18.7% in 2006. The number of workers who were uninsured decreased to 26.8 million in 2007 from 27.6 million in 2006.

In 2007, full-time workers were more likely to be covered by health insurance (83%) than part-time workers (76.6%) or nonworkers (74.6%). The number and percentage of uninsured among full-time workers decreased to 21.1 million and 17% in 2007 from 22 million and 17.9% in 2006. The number and percentage uninsured among part-time workers (5.8 million and 23.4%) were not statistically different from 2006, the report said.

The Census Bureau report is here .

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