The Escalating Number of Uninsured in the United States

Abstract

Data from the Census Bureau's Annual Report on Poverty show that 37.4 million Americans—two million more than the previous year—had no health insurance during 1992. The proportion of people with no health insurance also increased from 14.1 percent in 1991 to 14.7 percent in 1992. This is the largest annual increase—both in the number of people and the proportion of the population lacking health care coverage—since 1987, the first year for which comparable data are available. In 1987, the Census data show, 31 million people—12.9 percent of the population—were not covered by health insurance. Both the number of people and the proportion of the population without health insurance have increased each year since 1987. Not all of the changes from one year to the next were statistically significant. Between 1991 and 1992, however, the increases both in the number of people without insurance and the proportion of the population lacking insurance were statistically significant. The Bureau reported that 36.9 million Americans were poor in 1992, which represented the largest number of poor people in 30 years. Among the poor, 28.5 percent had no health insurance in 1992. Lack of insurance was not limited to the poor, however. Of those without insurance in 1992, more than 70 percent were above the poverty line.