Uninsured Americans

CDC says number of uninsured Americans rose in first quarter of 2010.
CQ Healthbeat (11/10, Reichard, subscription required) reports, "The number of Americans -- including those in the middle class -- who have had periods without health coverage has risen considerably in recent years. That has led people with hypertension, diabetes and asthma to skip care, thus increasing their odds of developing costly complications," according to a National Health Interview Survey released Tuesday. "An estimated 59.1 million Americans in the first quarter of 2010 were uninsured for at least part of the year before they were interviewed," CQ said, noting that "Census Bureau officials interviewed 90,000 people in 35,000 households." The CDC, which released the analysis, said "the 59.1 million figure represented an increase of 400,000 compared with 2009 and 2.7 million compared with 2008."
The CNN (11/9, Young) "The Chart" blog reported the data from the survey covered "2006 through 2009 and the first quarter of 2010. Over that time, the number of people without insurance in the 18- to 64-year-old age group has increased an average of 1.1 million Americans per year." Notably, "half of the overall increase [is] among people with family incomes twice to three times higher than the federal poverty level of about $22,000 for a family of four." Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, said, "Private insurance coverage has been falling steadily for at least the last 10 years." He added. "The public insurance safety net helped cover children, but private insurance fell by nine percent." MedPage Today (11/9, Frieden) and HealthDay (11/9, Reinberg) also covered the story.