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Privately insured is lowest in 50 years

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The Associated Press

Published: July 3, 2009

ATLANTA - The percentage of Americans with private health insurance has hit its lowest mark in 50 years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About 65 percent of non-elderly Americans had private insurance in 2008, down from 67 percent in 2007, according to preliminary data released Wednesday by the CDC.

In Florida, CDC reported, 56.2 percent of people under 65 had private coverage; 19 percent had public insurance and 25.5 percent were uninsured. A small number of people were covered by public and private plans and included in both categories.

In the 1970s and early '80s, nearly 80 percent of Americans had private coverage, the CDC said.

Some experts blamed the faltering economy and corporate decisions to raise health insurance premiums - or to do away with employee coverage - as the main drivers of the recent data. They say coverage data for 2009 may look even worse.

But public coverage of adults is up in some states, due to programs like Medicaid expanding eligibility.
CDC estimated about 44 million were uninsured last year, nearly the same as in recent years.

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