Unemployed and uninsured in California

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDMar 18 2010

Consider this

One fourth of the adult and children population of California have no access to insurance. 6.4 million people were uninsured in 2007 and figures jumped up to 8.2 million in just 2 years. Recession and unemployment was thought to be the major contributing factor according to the investigators from UCLA's Center for Health Policy Research.

UCLA Researchers also found that among the population over 18 nearly one third had no insurance for part or whole of 2009. When all adults and children under the age of 65 were taken into consideration 24.3% were found to have no insurance or whole or art of 2009.

"America's uninsured crisis means that hard-working people with average incomes are being squeezed," said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Impact

The rising number of uninsured people has led to Californians putting off essential medical care and check ups which results in complications and an overburdened emergency room with expensive medical care. Hospitals and insurance companies convey this cost burden to customers with insurance, increasing the cost of healthcare and driving up rates for those who have coverage.

President Obama and congressional Democrats are at the verge of finalizing the agreements on healthcare reforms. Democrats who are pressing the reforms claim expansion of health insurance to tens of millions of uninsured people across the country as a result.

Status in California

While the problem of uninsured population is plaguing the whole country including Texas, New Jersey and other states, California appears to be the worst hit with highest rates of unemployed and uninsured population.

Uninsured status and unemployment are related with the rise of unemployment from 5.7% in 2007 to 12.3% in 2009 reflecting in the latest UCLA figures.

The director of the health policy center, E. Richard Brown, said the state's 8.2 million people without coverage was the highest number he had seen in nearly three decades of studying the issue.” California’s situation is pretty dire with respect to healthcare coverage,” he said. These dismal figures are likely to remain same or worsen because of the rates of unemployment that are likely to remain in the double digits well into next year.

Uninsured status is on the rise among children too with numbers rising from 10.2% in 2007 to 13.4% in 2009. The number of uninsured children rose from 1.1 million to 1.5 million over the two years. These percentages and numbers would have been worse if not for insurance programs paid for by the state and federal governments.

"Being uninsured has real human consequences. . . . It is costly for all of us," said Shana Alex Lavarreda, director of health insurance studies at the UCLA research center. "It makes reforms of the system absolutely essential."