Growing Lack Of Health Insurance Could Revive Reform
Jan. 13, 2005
In what may give impetus to renewed attention to health-care reform legislation in the next Congress, a study by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), Washington, D.C., indicates that the number of Americans who do not have health ...
In what may give impetus to renewed attention to health-care reform legislation in the next Congress, a study by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), Washington, D.C., indicates that the number of Americans who do not have health insurance continues grow. More than 43 million -- 18.3% of nonelderly Americans -- had no coverage in 1997, up from 41.4 million (or 17.7%) in 1996, says EBRI. The analysis focuses on Americans under age 65 because more than 96% of those over 65 are covered by federal Medicare insurance. Employment-based health plans remained the most common source of coverage in 1997, extending to nearly 152 million nonelderly Americans (64.2%), the study reveals. That percentage has been rising for years, climbing from 63.5% in 1996.
