KEY FACTS ABOUT THE UNINSURED

Who Is Uninsured?

Despite a recent modest decline in the number of uninsured Americans - the first such decline after 12 years of steady increases - there are now nearly 43 million uninsured Americans.

Contrary to popular perception, more than eight out of 10 of those who lack insurance are in working families.

Private insurance is very expensive: The average cost of a family health plan purchased by an employer is $6,351 per year.

91 percent of those who have private insurance coverage get that insurance through the work-place.

Low-wage workers are less likely to be offered coverage at work than are higher paid workers:

• Nine out of 10 workers whose wages are $15 an hour or more are offered coverage by their employer, but only half of those whose wages are $7 an hour or less are offered coverage.

Even when low-wage workers are offered coverage, they often have to pay more to take advantage of the offer. In fact, workers in low-wage firms, if offered coverage, usually must pay higher premiums than workers in high-wage firms, even though low-wage workers have fewer resources to pay those premiums.

Medicaid may not be an option, either. Adults must have extremely low incomes to qualify for Medicaid and generally are not eligible if they are single adults or childless couples - no matter how poor they are. Parents may qualify for Medicaid, though the income limit is much lower than for children.

Why Insurance Matters 

The uninsured often delay or forgo needed medical care:

• The uninsured are more likely to be hospitalized for conditions that could have been avoided, such as pneumonia and uncontrolled diabetes, than people with insurance.
  
  
• Uninsured cancer patients are more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage cancer. Mortality rates for uninsured women with breast cancer are significantly higher than rates for women with insurance.
  
  
• Uninsured adults and children are less likely to receive preventive care. Uninsured adults are more than 30 percent less likely than people with insurance to have had a check-up in the past year.
  
  
• Nearly forty percent of uninsured adults skipped a recommended medical test or treatment, and 20 percent say they needed care, but did not get it for a serious problem in the past year.
  
  
• Uninsured people suffering from common chronic conditions like heart disease, hypertension, high cholesterol, and arthritis receive fewer lab tests, fewer ambulatory health care visits, and fewer prescription medicines than those covered by insurance.
  

Surprisingly, the uninsured, when they receive needed care, are often charged more than the rest of us. Because major insurers, including Medicare and Medicaid, negotiate big discounts with hospitals and other providers, providers often compensate by raising the prices to uninsured individuals.

from Families USA April 2001 (www.familiesusa.org)