Fifteen percent of Americans lack health insurance, CDC says
Almost 20 percent of people were without health insurance for at least part of 2009, government data shows
According to a preliminary release of the government’s National Health Interview Survey, 15.1 percent of Americans – or 45.4 million people – were without health insurance between January and June of this year.
The NHIS is conducted by a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC also noted that 8.2 percent of children were uninsured in the first half of this year, but children are the most-insured group. And, the government said, child enrollment in public insurance plans has increased significantly since 1997; the number of poor children with public insurance doubled in the last 12 years.
The least-insured age group is 18- to 24-year-olds; fully 29.6 percent of that group is without health insurance.
And, illustrating the connection between employment and insurance status, over 60 percent of unemployed adults aged 18 to 64) reported being uninsured for at least part of 2009. Among employed adults, only 22 percent said they were uninsured for part of the year.
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Posted: December 17, 2009
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