Government Help Brings Down Numbers of U.S. Uninsured

For the first time since 2004, the percentage of Americans without health insurance showed a drop in 2007; as government programs bailed out the populace hit by a decline in private and employer-sponsored coverage.

According to a Census Bureau report, 45.7 million people, or 15.3 percent of the population, lacked insurance in 2007, as against 47 million, or 15.8 percent, in 2006.

The bureau also took a broad overview of the economic status of U.S. households and stated family incomes had also risen in the period. The poverty rate was unchanged, while the number of poor children showed an increase.

At the time when employer-sponsored health insurance shrank to the lowest level since 1993, and declining employment predicts a worse scenario, the government-aided programs brought considerable relief.

The share of the population getting its medical insurance through employers fell to 59.3 percent. On the other hand, greater participation in government health programs has resulted in the drop in the uninsured numbers.

That is what David Johnson, chief of the Census Bureau's Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division, said during a press conference at Suitland, Maryland, outside Washington.

Medicaid, Medicare, and other health programs tending to the elderly and disabled, the poor and the armed services, covered 27.8 percent of the population, up from 27 percent in 2006.

Government-supported programs brought in the strongest growth at UnitedHealth Group Inc., the largest-selling health insurers; and Medicare provided more than 60 percent of Humana Inc.'s profits last year, say analysts.

Aetna Inc., the third-largest U.S. health insurer, reported almost 1 million customers through Medicare and Medicaid since 2007.

On the other hand, Cigna Corp., which mainly providers benefits to employers, scaled back its membership growth forecast for 2008 owing to decline in employer-sponsored plans.

Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C., in a telephone interview lauded ‘the public safety- net programs’ of the government which have come to the rescue of people caught up in an ‘erosion in employer-sponsored insurance.’

Pledging to carry forward the good work, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain both committed to step up government coverage if elected president.

Senator Obama says he would expand government programs and subsidize private coverage. Senator McCain from Arizona is not lagging behind.

“My health-care plan will substantially reduce the rolls of the uninsured,” McCain said. He is for taxing employer-provided health benefits and providing people a tax credit to buy care, instead.