government
California uninsured surged by 1.8 million
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted April 5, 2010
The number of California residents who were at least temporarily uninsured increased by about 1.8 million between 2007 and 2009 to reach 8.2 million, according to a health policy brief released in March by the University of California, Los Angeles, Center for Health Policy Research.
The growth in the state's uninsured population is largely due to a decline in employer-sponsored coverage and the inability of public programs to absorb the newly uninsured. "These estimates help us understand the scale of the damage inflicted on California over the last two years," said Shana Alex Lavarreda, PhD, the center's director of health insurance studies and a co-author of the study.
The estimates were calculated by updating the 2007 California Health Interview Survey with 2009 public and private coverage figures. The brief is available online (link).
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/04/05/gvbf0405.htm.
