U.S. Census: 15.4% of the U.S. population uninsured, more on govt coverage
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The bureau also said that while the number of people with health insurance increased from 253.4 million in 2007 to 255.1 million in 2008, the number of people without health insurance coverage conversely rose 1.3 percent—from 45.7 million in 2007 to 46.3 million in 2008, leaving 15.4 percent uninsured.
“They basically offset each other to keep the (overall uninsured) rate statistically unchanged,” said David Johnson, chief of the Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division at the U.S. Census.
The number covered by employment-based health insurance declined from 177.4 million to 176.3 million.
Also, the number of uninsured children declined from 8.1 million (11 percent) in 2007 to 7.3 million (9.9 percent) in 2008. Both the uninsured rate and number of uninsured children are the lowest since 1987, the first year that comparable health insurance data were collected. Although the uninsured rate for children in poverty declined from 17.6 percent in 2007 to 15.7 percent in 2008, children in poverty were more likely to be uninsured than all children, according to the bureau.
At 11.6 percent, the Northeast and the Midwest had lower uninsured rates in 2008 than the West (17.4 percent) and the South (18.2 percent). The 2008 rates for the Northeast, Midwest and South were not statistically different from their respective 2007 rates. The uninsured rate for the West increased to 17.4 percent in 2008, up from 16.9 percent in 2007.
The uninsured rates for the native-born and foreign-born populations were statistically unchanged at 12.9 percent and 33.5 percent, respectively, in 2008. Among the foreign-born population, the uninsured rates for both naturalized citizens (18 percent) and noncitizens (44.7 percent) were statistically unchanged.