Crisis: Nearly Five Million Adults Have Lost Insurance Since Sept. '08

As President Barack Obama prepares to address the nation tonight, a new survey provides a boost to his claim that the health care system is at a perilous place and in need of reform. Since September of last year, nearly five million adults have lost their insurance.

A survey of more than 29,000 individuals in June by Gallup shows that 16 percent of Americans over the age of 18 are currently without health insurance. That number reflects what the survey's authors describe as a "small but measurable uptick in the percentage of uninsured adults."

Indeed, the average number of uninsured adults recorded by Gallup in 2008 was 14.8 percent. In September 2008, the monthly total recorded was at a yearly low of 13.9 percent.

While the difference in percentage may seem small, the aggregate number of additional uninsured is vast.

According to 2007 U.S. Census data, the population of those 18 years or older stood at 228,196,823. By using that figure, in September of 2008, the number of uninsured adults would have totaled approximately 31.7 million. Today, the figure stands at 36.5 million -- meaning that 4.8 million adults have, in less than a year, lost their insurance coverage.

That said, the percentage of uninsured adults stood at 16.6 percent in May 2009, meaning that the situation has improved slightly but still remains dire.

Digging deeper into the numbers, one gets the sense of just how tricky a political situation the health care debate poses for both parties. The demographic that stands to gain the most from an increase in insurance coverage happens to represent the fastest-expanding voting bloc. More than 41 percent of Hispanic Americans are uninsured, Gallup reports, which is by far the largest segment of the U.S. population. The next highest groups are those who make less than $36,000 a year (28.6 percent uninsured) and those aged 18 to 29 (27.6 percent).

It is hard not to see the benefits for the political party that steps up to help resolve the health care problems of millions of Hispanic and young Americans. Just as, conversely, it is conceivable that the party that is blamed for obstructing comprehensive reform could suffer serious consequences at the polls.

It should be noted just how comprehensive the Gallup is in recording this data. Officially titled the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, the study involved conducting at least 1,000 tracking interviews each day and 178,000 since the beginning of the year. The maximum margin of sampling error is plus-or-minus one percentage point.

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Comments

[power1]

Hey President Obama, are you going to cover your family with the Public Option? I didn't think so.

[VikingQuest]

Why would he, he wants the best for his family and whatever they serve up isn't going to be it.

[PaxEterna]

To all the self-satisfied:

wait until more than 1 in 6 Americans is without a job, and without insurance.
wait until there is a pandemic and the people who should go to the hospital don't

No doubt those who can't see past their own comfort zones will blame the victims, until may they too get sick ....

Remember: "there but for the Grace of God ...."

[motodude]

This is sad and pathetic. Greatest nation indeed. The world's richest nation doesn't take care of its own. Shameful.

[kozy]

Insurance companies know the statistics and the psychology well -- if a large majority of 80% or so of the population has health insurance, most of them don't give a crap about the 20% without health insurance. Therefore, a large number of voters easily go along with the GOP-Insurance Industry Alliance against insuring everyone. Insurers also know that refusing insurance to the riskier 20% (or pricing them out of it) drives up insurance company earnings. With insurers, its all about making money, and with the GOPers from the 80% its about caring only about one's self and the ego joy of seeing other's at risk of medical disaster. Pro-insurance efforts should focus on getting empathy form the 80% and voting the opposing congressmen out of office.

[despin]

Re: psychology-- people won't ALLOW themselves to think about becoming sick. (REALLY sick.)

That's in part what makes the healthcare status quo so impenetrable.

[branchwater1113]

For most of my adult life, I've been among the winners in the American economy - great job with 2 of America's strongest, most respected companies, retirement benefits and company paid health insurance. Teh problem? Hard to imagine there is a problem, but ....

I'm just on the verge of my own heath insurance crisis.

In the US, retirement and insurance benefits aren't portable, so when I changed companies mid-life, I began countinig again from zero. Then I was downsized into an involuntay early retirement, with only a fractional retirement benefit and a large share of my health insurance premium.

So ... no job, little prospect for one at age 60, and health insurance at over $7000 per year. The cash flow just may not cover it all.

Don't get me wrong - I know I have it better than many, many Americans. That's actually the point - if someone who has had it as good as I have is facing this sort of struggle, what about the rest of the country - and about the state of our health care system.

Congress, Obama -- Quit your political games, screw the lobbies and the fat cats, and fix our damn healthcare system!

[Progress08]

How many people have crap insurance?

Mine sucks. I don't have:

ER coverage
Surgical coverage
Advanced procedure coverage
Prescription Medications

Seriously I pay $120 a month and if I get cancer I'm going to have to rob a bank. Not for the money but so I can go to prison and get healthcare. What does it say about our society that we treat convicts better than those who contribute. I'm so sick of this BS that I almost wish had a fatal illness so I could pin a note to my chest and drop dead on the steps of Congress to make a point.

[Meneor]

We need to call our Democratic Senators who are in favor of the public option and ask them to start negotiating with the Blue Dogs. For example, it is time to reduce government subsidies for rich farmers and logging and mining companies that are found in many of the Blue Dog States.

It is time to start twisting some arms.

[justobserve]

The fault line in the American health care system is that people with good and stable jobs have health insurance while small businesses or unemployed people have no insurance. It's insult adding to injury if you lose your job and then health insurance too. The case of congressmen, with their health care insurance paid for by taxpayers, opposing the reform showed clearly that it pitches people with jobs and health insurance against people without them by their selfishness. It's OK for the high costs that taxpayers paid for these people but too much if it expands to all of us whose tax paid for these people's health insurance!

[whoknew42]

I think this pretty much says it all!!

[ccpostman]

The facts!

http://healthyeconomynow.org/facts.html

FACT:
U.S. manufacturers spend more per hour on health care than their competitors in Canada, Japan and the UK combined. http://www.newamerica.net/files/Employer%20Burden%20-%20issue%20brief.pdf

FACT:
Another study on health care and the economy found that as many as 1.5 million families lose their homes to foreclosure every year due to unaffordable medical costs. http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=christopher_robertson

FACT:
The US will spend over 2.5 trillion dollars on health care in 2009, totaling 17.6 percent of GDP. http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/hlthaff.28.2.w346/DC1

FACT:
The U.S. spends 17.6 percent of GDP on health care, dramatically more than other wealthy industrialized nations. France, Canada , Germany, Japan and the UK are all at or below 11 percent.http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/hlthaff.28.2.w346/DC1

FACT:
Wasteful and inefficient spending in the U.S. health care system adds up to roughly $700 billion a year"costing nearly as much as the recent recovery package. http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/95xx/doc9563/07-16-HealthReform.1.2.shtml

FACT:
A study published in the Journal of Labor Economics found that a 20 percent increase in health care costs for U.S. employers results in 3.5 million jobs lost. http://www.ccpr.ucla.edu/ccprwpseries/ccpr_038_06.pdf

[wonketteRAWKS]

So now it's to be called "health INSURANCE reform."

Got that troops!

The boss says so!

[wilsonveteran]

I am ashamed of the Americans I see on this blog. It use to be Americans were a very independent people that thought they could do anything. We were a people that did not beg for handouts and give away our freedoms so the government could provide for us. If we do not have a job Government should pay us. If we have a baby and do not live with the father government should pay for us. Government should give us health care and tell us how much energy we can use. What can government do for us that we cannot do for ourselves. If you do not like your health care create your own. Get your neighbors together and start a fund where everyone puts in. If someone gets sick use that money to pay for your health care and don't use the insurance companies. If you want to lower cost of health care tell your senator or congressman you want tort reform and insurance companies that can sell across state lines. You say it won't work but it cost us nothing to try it. This plan of Obama;s cost us 1.6 trillion dollars. I can see us losing freedoms from it. They will regulate what you eat because being overweight causes more illness. They will tell you what to drink and smoke because that puts a strain on the system. These are freedoms we have to choose what we Become independent Americans again.

[valentinemichaelsmith]

Is that you Rush ?

Get together with neighbors and start a fund ? Tell me you're not serious

[Garrett123]

That's what this is about, getting together with our neighbors, i.e. fellow Americans and not letting the corporate vultures r@pe us anymore. Sounds like you're a bit unpatriotic.

[Fromageball]

So you think this "neighborhood fund" is going to pay for the hundreds of thousands in medical bills if one of us gets, say, cancer?

[mom4peace]

It's unAmercian that 62% of people filing for bankruptcy because they can't pay their medical bills. Two- thirds of that figure HAVE health insurance.
It's interesting that the rest of the modern industrialized nations in the world feel that healthcare is right. But here, it's about profit. Insurance agents are getting rewarded if they can drop someone's coverage. I'm tired of paying a lot of money for crappy insurance. I'm tired of the private industry making my choices. I'm tired of paying for the bonuses for the administrators of Blue Cross Blue Shield. I'm tired of paying inflated prices to cover the uninsured and cases that health insurance companies won't cover.

[instagladiator]

There is nothing wrong with that approach except for the fact that "you have no control over" what the doctors and hospitals charge? Therein lies the problem of your (so called) health care system.

[ipv4]

II see is independant making the ceo of the insurance industry wealthy beyond your wildest dreams????

Is being a good american allowing people to lose their house because they got sick???? Please answer this one.

I have a neighbor that has lost everything they own because of medical expenses, you call this being an american??

You say your ashamed of americans on this blog, I say , I'm ashamed of you for being so incredibly ingornant of how the system works. Our medical system is the laughing stock of the industrialize world my friend. Not because we don't have the latest and greatest technologies because we do, but because people are dying in this country due to not pursueing preventive care because it wil send them into bankrupcy.

[misterturner]

So what does any of this have to do with the need to pass the legislation immediately, as in this very month, as opposed to, say, a few months from now when it's been properly discussed and debated?

[beyondthepale9779]

I'd be interested how many of those who lost their insurance did so because they lost their jobs.

[MelRoy]

It's probably a combination of two: People losing their jobs would lose their insurance, but employers are increasingly cutting the benefit because of the high cost to them.

And what the politicians who are in bed with the insurance companies won't tell you is obvious. It's not only individuals who are hurting - it's businesses. Mainly small businesses.

If President Obama was really smart (and I have no doubt that he is smart), he would stop trying to pander to his fellow politicians who have nothing to gain and everything to lose with healthcare reform, and get small business owners all across America to weigh in, to tell us how may new jobs would be created if they didn't have to bear the burden of providing healthcare benefits for their employees. He says he's for job creation - this is the way to prove it.

[CaveatLector]

I'm betting at least 75%. People get laid off, and can't afford the Cobra payrments necessary to keep their health insurance flowing, uninterrupted. Until Cobra runs out, you cannot go to a default insurer without submitting a health history, which the insurer uses to 'rate' you at an impossibly high premium. Either way, it's a lose/lose proposition.

If this bill passes the Senate, middle class Americans are going to be taxed on employer-paid health insurer premiums, as if it were income. So much for only taxing those who make over a quarter of a million a year.

I'm begining to experience buyers remorse in voting for Obama.

[huffyjive]

call your senator and congress-person, ask them to read this bill before casting a vote.

[No Man]

How can anyone take your comments seriously with that picture as your icon. Why do you need a picture anyway?