The number of Californians without health insurance will grow about 20 percent by 2010 as premiums go up and fewer employers offer coverage, a new study by researchers at UC Berkeley finds. The number of low-wage workers with health insurance dropped from 59 percent to 46 percent between 2000 and 2004. That, the report concludes, could be an ominous omen for the rest of the country. "What we are facing is a downward spiral in healthcare coverage -- and California is five years further down the path than the nation as a whole," said Berkeley's Ken Jacobs, one of the study's lead authors.
- see this story from the Los Angeles Times