Charts: Uninsured Now 45 Million, 2004 Health Insurance Premiums Up 11.2 PercentJeff Lemieux
revised September 9, 2004
Last month, the Census Bureau reported that the number of people without health insurance rose by 1.4 million in 2004, to 45 million. The number of Americans with health insurance increased by a smaller amount: 1 million.
This morning, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust announced new data from its survey of health insurance premiums: an 11.2 percent increase in 2004 for employer-based coverage, down slightly from the 13.9 percent rise in 2003.
Charts:
Figure 1. Number of Uninsured
Figure 2. Employer-Based Health Insurance Premiums
Figure 3. Payroll Employment
The new figures on health insurance premiums coverage are discouraging. Since 2000, the number of uninsured has risen by about 5 million. Health insurance premiums have risen at double-digit rates for the fourth year in a row.
The number of uninsured rose steadily throughout the late-1980s and most of the 1990s. However, the numbers started to drop in the late 1990s, reflecting a stabilization of health premiums in the mid-1990s and a strong labor market in the latter part of the decade.
Beginning with the recession of 2001, the number of uninsured is back on the rise. This is primarily due to rapidly rising health premiums and a weak labor market.
Figure 1.
Figure 2.
Figure 3.
Links:
Kaiser/HRET Employer Health Benefits 2004 Annual Survey (September 2004)
Census Bureau Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2003 (August 2004)
Centrists.Org Policy Report: Senator Kerry's Health Proposal -- Prospects for Bipartisanship?
(August 25, 2004)
