An analysis by Families USA, a health advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., discovered that 37 percent of non-senior California residents have gone without health insurance at one time or another within the last two years. In most cases, the individuals went without coverage for a time period of no less than six months, with 80 percent of those individuals in working families.
That percentage adds up to 12.1 million people; nationwide, 86.7 million residents went without insurance over the same period of time. Of those from the California analysis, 53 percent were Latino, 38 percent were black and 25 percent were white. The numbers were based on analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, but Families USA used different methodology in tracking the uninsureds. According to the Census Bureau, 45.7 million people went without health insurance at one time or another in 2007; in 2006 that number was at 47 million people.
"Being uninsured is not something that happens to only some people in California," said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, another patient advocacy organization. "It is a condition that all of us are faced with the potential of, and that many of us face on a regular basis."
To learn more:
- read this Los Angeles Times story