Number of uninsured Americans rises to 50.7 million, Census Bureau Reports

September 17, 2010 -- A record rise in the number of people without health insurance across the nation is fueling renewed debate over a health care law that could to work better at boosting coverage than controlling costs.More than 50 million people were uninsured last year, almost one in six U.S. residents, the Census Bureau reported Thursday. The percentage with private insurance was the lowest since the government began keeping data in 1987.

The reasons for the rise to 50.7 million, or 16.7%, from 46.3 million uninsured, or 15.4%, were many: workers losing their jobs in the recession, companies dropping employee health insurance benefits, families going without coverage to cut costs. Driving much of the increase, however, was the rising cost of medical care; a Kaiser Family Foundation report shows workers now pay 47% more than they did in 2005 for family health coverage, while employers pay 20% more.

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Although the health care law signed by President Obama in March is designed to insure an additional 32 million people in public and private programs, it doesn't fully kick in until 2014. For the next few years, experts say, the problem could get worse. The average cost to insure a family of four is already about $14,000.

"Eventually, more people will be covered if everything goes the way it should starting in 2014," says Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, which represents large employers. "But that's four years away, and there's going to be a lot of financial pain and economic burden before 2014."

The increase in the uninsured population had been expected as employers continue to shed jobs. Those in low-income households were three times as likely to be uninsured as those with incomes above $75,000. Workers ages 18-64 were the primary losers, as public programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program protected the young and aged.

President Obama picked up on that glimmer of hope in his response to the Census report. He said the new health care law, which is designed to insure more poor and middle-income Americans, "will build on that success by expanding health insurance coverage to more families."