Census Data on Growing Number of Uninsured Make Clear: National Health Care Strategy Is Needed
<p>Today, the Census Bureau released the latest data on the number of Americans without health insurance: in 2006, the number of uninsured rose to 47 million. The ranks of the uninsured have grown 8.6 million since 2000--an increase of 22 percent.<br /><br />The number of uninsured children rose to 8.7 million. If not for coverage through Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), even more children would be without coverage. Nearly all uninsured adults are employed, and are increasingly likely to be in middle-class families. <br /><br /><a href="/cnlib/pub/enews_clickthrough.htm?enews_item_id=29729&return_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecommonwealthfund%2Eorg%2FGeneral%2FGeneral%5Fshow%2Ehtm%3Fdoc%5Fid%3D519979%26%23doc519979">Reacting to the new Census data,</a> Commonwealth Fund president, Karen Davis, Ph.D., says that the SCHIP reform bills currently in Congress are an unprecedented opportunity to expand coverage and improve the quality of care for all of us, but they are only a beginning. She discusses opportunities to expand coverage and improve the quality of care for all Americans.</p>
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletters/ealerts/2007/aug/census-data-on-growing-number-of-uninsured-make-clear--national-health-care-strategy-is-needed