Record 46.6M U.S. Residents Lacked Coverage in 2005
The number of U.S. residents without health insurance increased by 1.3 million in 2005 to a record 46.6 million individuals, or 15.9% of the U.S. population, compared with 45.3 million individuals, or 15.6% of the population, in 2004, according to figures from the U.S. Census Current Population Survey released on Tuesday, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The data show that almost one in six U.S. residents was uninsured in 2005.
In California, the percentage of residents without health insurance increased by about 0.5% to 19% in 2004-2005 from 2003-2004 (Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, 8/30).
The number of U.S. residents with health insurance increased by 1.4 million to 247.3 million in 2005, according to the report (Benjamin/Young, Bloomberg/Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/30).
In addition, the report finds that the percentage of U.S. residents with employer-sponsored health coverage decreased from 59.8% in 2004 to 59.5% in 2005, the lowest percentage since 1993 (Appleby, USA Today, 8/30). By comparison, in 2001, 14.6% of U.S. residents were uninsured, and 62.6% had employer-sponsored coverage (San Francisco Chronicle, 8/30).
The report also finds that:
- The percentage of U.S. residents with coverage through government programs remained constant in 2004 and 2005 at 27.3% (USA Today, 8/30);
- The percentage of U.S. residents with any form of private coverage decreased to 67.7% in 2005, compared with 68.2% in 2004 (Havemann/Alonso-Zaldivar, Los Angeles Times, 8/30);
- The percentage of U.S. residents who purchased private health insurance outside of their jobs decreased to 9.1% in 2005, compared with 9.3% in 2004;
- The percentage of U.S. children without health insurance increased to 11.2% in 2005, compared with 10.8% in 2004 (USA Today, 8/30);
- A total of slightly more than 8.3 million U.S. children did not have health insurance in 2005 (Los Angeles Times, 8/30);
- Minnesota had the lowest percentage of uninsured state residents at 8.7%, and Texas had the highest at 24.6% (Glauber/Johnson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8/29);
- 32.7% of Hispanics, 11.3% of non-Hispanic whites and 19.6% of African Americans did not have health insurance in 2005 (San Francisco Chronicle, 8/30);
- Almost 80% of the uninsured in 2005 were U.S. citizens (Los Angeles Times, 8/30);
- About 961,000 of the 1.3 million increase in the number of people uninsured was among full-time workers; and
- In households with annual incomes of at least $50,000, 17 million U.S. residents did not have health insurance in 2005, an increase of 1.5 million from 2004 (Graham, Chicago Tribune, 8/30).