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

[marmar]

from HuffPost:



Sam Stein
[e-mail] | HuffPost

Crisis: Nearly Five Million Adults Have Lost Insurance Since Sept. '08
First Posted: 07-22-09 03:27 PM | Updated: 07-22-09 03:35 PM


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. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/22/crisis-nearly-five-millio_n_242953.html

[valerief]

1. 36.5 million with no health coverage!!! That's a staggering number. Almost a CEO's annual pay. nt

[phantom power]

2. You wanna know what blows my mind...

it's that here we have an economic climate where everybody knows we're losing 500K jobs a month, and everybody is looking around them wondering if they'll be next, and everybody knows that if they lose their job, their health insurance (if they have any) is in immediate jeopardy.

And, with all the above going on, we are still very likely to not only fail in achieving single payer health insurance, but to get little or no tangible reform at all.

:banghead:

[Wednesdays]

3. K&R

:kick:

[KamaAina]

4. You know, I actually learned something from Mike Freakin' Huckabee's campaign

I'm almost ashamed to admit this, but it was Schmuckabee who pointed out that our present employer-based health insurance system is a relic of World War II-era wage and price controls. Benefits (which were almost unheard of then) weren't covered, so companies began to use them as a way to get around the controls to try to lure valued workers (usually executives). Over time, they became more and more standard.

[G_j]

5. & over one Million People Lost their Home in 2008

http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/hotproperty/archives/2009/01/over_one_millio.html