For Immediate Release
January 22, 2007
Contact: Susan Duerksen, (619) 804-1950 or (619) 584-5744 x.64
Middle-Class Adults Losing Health Insurance in County
Coverage Up for Children and the Poor, but Many Still Uninsured
Middle-income working adults in San Diego County continue to lose health insurance coverage, despite a drop in the total number of uninsured, according to data released today.
Health insurance coverage has fallen substantially among adults in the county’s low- to middle-income households, those earning between $30,000 and $80,000. The number of uninsured rose 43% in that group, including an increase of 30% among adults making between $30,000 and $50,000, and 78% for those making between $50,000 and $80,000.
The new data show 13.1% of county residents were uninsured in 2005. Health coverage for children and adults with very low incomes has increased since 2003, but a total of 388,000 individuals, including 54,000 children, still lacked health insurance in 2005.
The data are part of the 2005 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), the largest state health survey and one of the largest health surveys in the United States. The survey is conducted every two years and provides information at the state and county level. CHIS is a collaborative project of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, the California Department of Health Services, and the Public Health Institute.
"Public programs focused on covering children and the poor apparently have had some success," said Donald Cohen, executive director of the Center on Policy Initiatives, a nonprofit think tank that analyzed the data. "But far too many people are still living without accessible health care, and the squeeze on the middle class is getting worse."
Lower-income households continue to bear the brunt of the health care crisis, with 195,000 uninsured adults living in households with income under $30,000 a year. But the number of uninsured in the middle-income bracket has risen to 119,000.
Between 2003 and 2005, the public insurance program for children called Healthy Families enrolled an additional 21,000 children in the county, an increase of 54%.
The biggest improvement in coverage was among adolescents, ages 12-17. In that age group, number of uninsured dropped by almost 48%.
Data for San Diego County, 2005 California Health Interview Survey
(Extracted by the Center on Policy Initiatives)
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