Health Insurance on the Decline

For the first time in several years, the number of Americans without health insurance has dropped, according to new statistics released by the Census Bureau. In 2007, 45.7 million people had no healthcare coverage, a drop from the 46.9 million uninsured people in 2006. Similarly, the percentage of Americans without medical coverage dropped from 15.8% in 2006 to 15.5% in 2007. To some, this is a step in the right direction, but others contend that there is far more work to be done, especially among America’s poor. In this post, we’ll discuss some reasons for the drop in the uninsured and what it means for the future of health insurance in America.

The Driving Force

The economy has not been ideal lately, so why the drop in the number of America’s uninsured? Most experts point to expanding eligibility for government-subsidized health insurance programs and stronger outreach programs. The Census Bureau statistics corroborate that theory–the number of people covered by private health insurance dropped from 67.9% to 67.5% from 2006 to 2007, indicating a shift toward goverment-sponsored plans. In fact, the number of Americans covered by programs like Medicaid rose from 27% to 27.8% from 2006 to 2007. Government healthcare is usually available at little to no cost, which could be one of the driving reasons why health insurance is on the incline.

Poverty Levels

Not surprisingly, uninsured Americans tend to live below the poverty level. Despite the heartening trends in more widespread healthcare coverage, the poverty situation remains largely unchanged. About 12.5% of Americans live below the federal poverty level, and a shocking number of America’s poor go without medical coverage. In order to continue the positive trends toward universal healthcare coverage, legislators intend to continue to work on making government-subsidized healthcare more accessible to these groups and help them with aggressive outreach programs.