The number of uninsured children and adults in US increased from 2005 to 2006. This alarming finding is revealed in US Census Bureau report.
These findings are contained in the Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2006 report. The data were compiled from information collected in the 2007 Current Population Survey (CPS) Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC).
The number of uninsured children in US increased from 8 million (10.9 percent) in 2005 to 8.7 million (11.7 percent) in 2006.
The number of uninsured, as well as the rate without health insurance, remained statistically unchanged in 2006 for non-Hispanic whites (at 21.2 million or 10.8 percent).
For blacks, the number and percentage increased, from 7 million in 2005 to 7.6 million and from 19 percent in 2005 to 20.5 percent. The number of uninsured Asians remained statistically unchanged, at 2 million in 2006, while their uninsured rate declined to 15.5 percent in 2006, from 17.2 percent in 2005.
The number and percentage of uninsured Hispanics increased from 14 million (32.3 percent) in 2005 to 15.3 million (34.1 percent).
Based on a three-year average (2004-2006), 31.4 percent of people who reported American Indian and Alaska Native as their race were without coverage. The three-year average for Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders was 21.7 percent.
Between 2005 and 2006, the number of U.S.-born residents who were uninsured increased from 33 million to 34.4 million, and their uninsured rate increased from 12.8 percent in 2005 to 13.2 percent. The number of foreign-born who were uninsured rose from 11.8 million in 2005 to 12.6 million, and their rate was statistically unchanged at 33.8 percent in 2006.
The Midwest had the lowest uninsured rate in 2006, at 11.4 percent, followed by the Northeast (12.3 percent), the West (17.9 percent) and the South (19 percent). The Northeast and South experienced increases in their uninsured rates ? their 2005 rates were 11.7 percent and 18 percent, respectively.
Rates for 2004-2006 using a three-year average show that Texas (24.1 percent) had the highest percentage of uninsured. The rates for Minnesota, Hawaii, Iowa, Wisconsin and Maine were lower than the rates of the other 45 states and the District of Columbia. The rates for these five states were not statistically different from one another.
Fifteen states had an uninsured rate that was statistically higher than the national rate of 15.3 percent, while 29 states and the District of Columbia had rates statistically lower than the U.S. average. Six states had rates that were not statistically different from the national average.