14,000 People Losing Health Coverage Every Day

The Center for American Progress (CAP) Action Fund released a report calling for health care overhaul to address increasing numbers of people losing insurance coverage and to stimulate the economy. According to CAP:

Many Americans did not have any health insurance even before the recession began. During the six years of the last economic expansion, the number of uninsured Americans grew by 7 million, reaching 46 million in 2007.

That number is almost certainly higher today because the economy has lost 3.6 million jobs since the start of 2008. A one percentage point rise in the national unemployment rate causes 2.4 million people to lose employer-sponsored health coverage, according to Urban Institute researchers. Of these people, 1 million rely on Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program and 1.1 million end up uninsured.

Since the Census Bureau’s figures for uninsured Americans were collected in the spring of 2007, the unemployment rate has grown from 4.4 percent to 7.6 percent. As a result, an estimated 3.5 million people have lost their health insurance and are now uninsured.

Moreover, the loss of coverage is accelerating. The unemployment rate grew by 0.8 percentage points in December and January alone, implying that nearly 900,000 people became uninsured in these two months. That’s about 100,000 people a week, or 14,000 people a day. The rapid growth in the number of uninsured Americans will continue as long as the job market remains in a free fall.

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