- Number of uninsured jumped by nearly 3 million in 2009, By Steven Reinberg, June 20, 2010, USA Today: “For some Americans, health care reform may be arriving none too soon: The number of U.S. adults not covered by health insurance jumped by 2.9 million people from 2008 to 2009. In 2009 – the year in which the latest statistics are available – 46.3 million American adults had no health insurance, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This means one in five working-age adults is uninsured, and the situation is still worse in some states: nearly one in four Texans, for example, lack any form of health coverage…”
- 4 in 10 in Michigan uninsured, on public plan, By Patricia Anstett, June 20, 2010, Detroit Free Press: “The impact of the state’s sour economy is clear in a new report: More than 3.8 million Michiganders — nearly 4 of 10 people who live here — were uninsured or covered by a public program. Michigan also sank from best in the nation to sixth-best among states with the most uninsured children between 2005 and 2008, according to the annual Cover Michigan report to be released Monday by the Ann Arbor-based Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation. A partnership of the University of Michigan and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, the center compiles some of the most comprehensive data in the state on health insurance coverage. Michigan still has some of the nation’s most affordable rates, ranking ninth-lowest in yearly premiums, the report found…”
- Health aid urged for low-wage workers, By Kay Lazar, June 20, 2010, Boston Globe: “Thousands of uninsured Massachusetts workers in low-wage jobs are ineligible for state-subsidized health coverage, but they will qualify for these low-cost plans under the new national health care overhaul – in 2014. Now, some consumer advocates, arguing that the wait is unfair and a black eye for the state, want the Patrick administration and legislators to launch a program to cover at least part of this group. Administration officials, already facing huge budget deficits, say the state can’t afford the tens of millions of dollars it would cost to subsidize additional workers’ insurance…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty