HEALTH:  Overview

Over 43 million American under age 65 lacked health insurance coverage in 2002, an increase of almost two and a half million people over the previous year and the largest annual increase in more than a decade. While the majority of Americans obtain health insurance through their employer as a benefit, being employed does not guarantee that a worker will have insurance.  The uninsured come primarily from working families with low and moderate incomes, families for whom coverage is not available in the workplace or is unaffordable.

Medicare covers virtually all those 65 and older, while Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) help provide coverage for millions of low-income people. However, there still remains a significant gap in coverage - so large that 17% of the population under 65 lacks health insurance.  Employer sponsored health insurance is sensitive to both the general economy and changes in health insurance premiums, which have resulted in a nearly 10% growth ini the number of uninsured between 2000 and 2002, yielding a two-year increase of 3.7 million more uninsured Americans under age 65.

A Closer Look...

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