Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2003 | 9:30 a.m.
SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
WASHINGTON -- An additional 2.4 million people fell into the ranks of the uninsured last year, according to Census Bureau estimates that show a second consecutive annual increase spurred by people losing coverage when they are laid off or their job benefits are cut. Nevada was one of 18 states that posted a significant increase in the number of uninsured.
Nevada had a 1.5 percent increase in the number of people who lacked health insurance in 2002, lifting the count of uninsured to 17.9 percent of the population or 418,000 people. Nevada's sample size for the study was 4,416 people.
There were 43.6 million uninsured U.S. residents at some point during 2002, up nearly 6 percent from the previous year, the bureau reported Tuesday. The percentage of all Americans without health insurance rose from 14.6 percent to 15.2 percent.
Experts called the increase an expected aftereffect of the recession, even though it officially ended in November 2001.
Significant increases were found through a broad swath of the U.S. population: whites and blacks, people 18-to-64, middle- and higher-income earners, and those with a high school degree or higher. Rates increased across all regions except the West.
A survey released earlier this month from the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health policy research group, found that private health premiums increased 13.9 percent between 2002 and 2003. A family policy, on average, cost $9,068.
Census Bureau analyst Robert Mills pointed to a decline in workplace-based coverage as the main reason for the increase in uninsured: In 2002, 61.3 percent of U.S. residents were covered under an employment-based policy, down from 62.6 percent in 2001.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson noted that the uninsured rate for children was relatively unchanged at 11.6 percent, and that there were expansions in coverage in two programs aimed at covering the poor and children -- Medicaid and the state Children's Health Insurance Program.
The White House pointed to other proposals in President Bush's 2004 budget request, such as $89 billion in health care tax credits to help those who do not have employer-based coverage, as ways to get more people covered.
"The president is committed to getting the economy growing faster so the number of unemployed and uninsured Americans will go down," Bush spokeswoman Claire Buchan said.
Rep. Pete Stark of California, senior Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee, blamed the insurance losses on the "Bush jobless recovery."
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