A new Census Bureau report on income, poverty and health insurance coverage in the U.S. shows that the existing health care system is failing to provide stable and secure coverage for a growing number of Americans. The report shows that employment-based health coverage dropped for the eighth year in a row, from 59.3% of Americans covered in 2007 to 58.5% in 2008. The number of Americans without any health insurance rose from 45.7 million in 2007 to 46.3 million in 2008.
It’s a virtual certainty that with the deepening of the recession in 2009, more Americans are losing health insurance every day. Americans need affordable, secure alternatives to a system where losing a job too often means losing health insurance. The status quo is simply not a viable solution. –Elise Gould