International Herald Tribune Editorial - Worse health coverage

International Herald Tribune Editorial - Worse health coverage
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: August 29, 2007


The Census Bureau's report on the state of American health insurance was as disturbing as its statistics on poverty and income.

The bureau reported a large increase in the number of Americans who lack health insurance, data that ought to send an unmistakable message to Washington: Vigorous action is needed to reverse this alarming and intractable trend.

The number of uninsured Americans has been rising inexorably over the past six years as soaring health care costs have driven up premiums, employers have scaled back or eliminated health benefits and hard-pressed families have found themselves unable to purchase insurance at a reasonable price.

Last year, the number of uninsured Americans increased by a daunting 2.2 million, to 47.0 million in 2006 from 44.8 million in 2005. That scotched any hope that the faltering economic recovery would help alleviate the problem.

The main reason for the upsurge in uninsured Americans is that employment-based coverage continued to deteriorate. Indeed, the number of full-time workers without health insurance rose to 22.0 million in 2006 from 20.8 million in 2005, presumably because either the employers or the workers or both found it too costly.

Sadly, the one area where the nation had made progress - reducing the number of uninsured children - took a turn for the worse. The number of uninsured children under 18 dropped steadily and significantly from 1999 to 2004, thanks largely to an expansion in coverage of low-income children under two programs operated jointly by the states and the federal government, Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

Then last year the number of uninsured children jumped more than 600,000 to reach 8.6 million. The main reason, advocacy groups say, is that access and funding for the low-income programs became tighter while employer coverage for dependents eroded.

The challenge to the White House and Congress seems clear. The upward trend in the number of uninsured needs to be reversed because many studies have shown that people who lack health insurance tend to forgo needed care until they become much sicker and go to expensive emergency rooms for treatment. That harms their health and drives up everyone's health care costs.

The most immediate need is to reauthorize and expand the expiring State Children's Health Insurance Program. It has already brought health coverage to millions of young Americans. It should be reinvigorated to bring coverage to many millions more.