Uninsured Crisis Hits Middle Class Hardest

03/20/2010

Rising health care costs have made it increasingly difficult for companies to offer insurance coverage to their employees. Some have been forced to implement stricter requirements, or cut programs altogether.

Members of the middle class, many of whom are not eligible for government-sponsored health insurance, may be suffering the brunt of these actions, according to a recent report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. About 3 million people in this income-range lost access to employer-sponsored insurance between 2000 and 2008.

Sixty-six percent of middle-class individuals now receive insurance through their employer, a seven percentage point drop from 2000's figures. While low-income families may lose employer-sponsored insurance at a faster rate, many of these losses are offset by government programs like Medicaid, according to the report. Consequently, the number of uninsured middle-class Americans grows more quickly than any other income group.

"America's uninsured crisis means that hard-working people with average incomes are being squeezed," Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said.

The most recent data from the Census Bureau show that about 46.3 million Americans did not have health insurance in 2008, up from the previous years's 45.7 million. While the number of people with private insurance dropped, those with government coverage grew from 83 million to 87.4 million.

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