Thread: Amount of working Americans without insurance rises

Percentage of Uninsured Americans Rising
By THERESA AGOVINO, AP Business Writer
Wed Apr 26, 0:48 AM

NEW YORK - The percentage of working-age Americans with moderate to middle incomes who lacked health insurance for at least part of the year rose to 41 percent in 2005, a dramatic increase from the 28 percent in 2001 without coverage, a study released on Wednesday found.

Moreover, more than half of the uninsured adults said they were having problems paying their medical bills or had incurred debt to cover their expenses, according to a report by the Commonwealth Fund, a New York-based private, health care policy foundation. The study of 4,350 adults also found that people without insurance were more likely to forgo recommended health screenings such as mammograms than those with coverage, and were less likely to have a regular doctor than their insured counterparts.

The report paints a bleak health care picture for the uninsured. "It represents an explosion of the insurance crisis into those with moderate incomes," said Sara Collins, a senior program officer at the Commonwealth Fund.

Collins said the study also illustrates how more employers are dropping coverage or are offering plans that are just too expensive for many people.

About 45.8 million Americans did not have health insurance in 2004, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The percentage of individuals earning less than $20,000 a year without insurance rose to 53 percent, up from 49 percent in 2001. Overall, the percentage of people without insurance rose to 28 percent in 2005 from 24 percent in 2001.

The study also found that 59 percent of uninsured with chronic conditions such as asthma or diabetes either skipped a dose of their medicine or went without it because it was too expensive. One-third of them

One-third of those in that group visited an emergency room or stayed in a hospital overnight or did both, compared to 15 percent of their insured counterparts.

Collins said those statistics are significant because giving up medicines typically leads to more expensive health problems later. Treating people in expensive settings such emergency rooms places a financial burden on the health care system, she added.

"People not being able to take care of themselves should send out a big red flag," said Collins.

HCA Inc. hoisted a red flag on Tuesday, when the the nation's largest for-profit hospital operator said its earnings fell 8.5 percent in the first quarter after an increase in the uninsured admissions cut into revenue gains. Uninsured admissions rose 13 percent during the quarter, and the company said its provision for "doubtful accounts" rose to $852 million from $683 million a year earlier.

The Commonwealth Fund's study was bolstered by analysis of government data funded and released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a private organization that provides health care grants.

That study found that cost prevented 41.1 percent of uninsured adults from seeing a doctor, compared to 9.2 percent of individuals with coverage.

Meanwhile, 51 percent of women without health insurance haven't had a mammogram in two years, compared to 22.8 percent of women with insurance.

And 76.3 percent of uninsured men between the ages of 40 to 64 haven't had the PSA test, which detects prostate cancer, in two years. That compares to 52.2 percent of their insured counterparts.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health used data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reach the study's conclusion.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I know I cant afford 2 grand a month for health insurance. I have JP care. When i go to the doctor I pay cash. When I go to the hospital I say "Bill Me, I'll pay it when or if I can."

I went from 1993 to 2005 with no health insurance. My kids went from 1993 to 2002 without it.

There was no money for doctors or hospitals. I learned herboligy to combat both of their cronic tonsil itis. I took my own needle and thread to sew up a 1.5 inch wide, 1 inch deep cut in the sole of my foot.

I fell threw the cracks for any assistance or help for years after divorice. America's government didn't give a damn.

Got to tip my hat Jezzabell.....I've taped gashes shut but never had the guts to stitch. I'm terrified of getting sick coz it doesn't take much to put you in the streets now. I can't afford the basic tests I need. Afraid that if I did, I'd never be able to afford the meds if something was wrong. I know when I stand in line to sign for my OTC allergy pills It's rare anyone isn't paying anything less than 150.00.

Get a Matricula Consular card.

Use hospital emergency rooms for care.

Change your identity yearly so the bills can't follow you.

Stoopid Gringos.

Haven't you learned?

Play by the rules set up by the elite class and all you do is impoverish yourself and enrich them.

Stoopid Gringos.

It's a new age. The morality of the past no longer applies.

It's survival of the sneakiest and wealthiest.

All bets are off.

Loyalty to one's self and/or family is the new mantra.

Loyalty to country? A fools game foisted upon you by the elite's propaganda.

Do you really think the super-rich, those with the majority of the country's wealth and the corporate structure is really loyal to America?

Bwa hah hah hah hah!!!!!!

Learn to play by the new rules or be left behind to wallow in the mire.

Sad but true.