Study Raises Estimate of the Nation's Uninsured

By ROBIN TONER,  NY Times

 March 5, 2003

WASHINGTON, March 4 — An estimated 75 million Americans were without health insurance at some point during the last two years, amounting to nearly a third of all Americans younger than 65, a study has found.

The study suggests that being uninsured is far more common — and much more of a mainstream problem — than previously thought, the study's sponsors said.

"The uninsured problem is no longer simply an issue of altruism about other people, but also one of self-interest for us all," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a liberal consumer advocacy group, which prepared the study for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The study was released as part of the promotion of Cover the Uninsured Week, which begins on March 10 and is sponsored by several health foundations and an array of national organizations, from the United States Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable to the A.F.L.-C.I.O. and AARP. The campaign is intended to raise awareness about the problems of the uninsured.

The study differed from the approach taken by the Census Bureau, which tries to estimate the number of people who are uninsured throughout an entire previous year. Last fall, the Census Bureau placed that number at 41 million. The new study tried to measure the number of people who lacked coverage for part of a two-year period.

By and large, these were not small periods of time: nearly a fourth of the 74.7 million lacked coverage for the full 24 months; another fourth were uninsured for three to five months, the study found. Only 10 percent were without health insurance for two months or less.

Americans older than 65 are covered by the Medicare program. The uninsured tended to be working people, and tended to be young.

More than half of the nation's Hispanic population younger than 65 people were uninsured at some point over the last two years, and 39 percent of the nation's blacks younger than 65 were, according to the study.