Feature Story

June 16, 2008

Plight of the Uninsured

From The Commonwealth Fund:

A June 12, 2008 New York Times editorial focused on a Commonwealth Fund study published in Health Affairs that found an estimated 25 million adults in the United States are underinsured. Also see a NewsHour analysis on the study, featuring an interview with lead author Cathy Schoen.

For many years now, the problem of the uninsured has been growing. Today, some 47 million Americans have no health insurance.

Now researchers are focusing again on another significant issue: the underinsured, those who have insurance coverage, but still struggle to pay their medical bills.

Last year, 25 million Americans, 1 in 5 under the age of 65, were underinsured, up from 16 million in 2003, according to a new report by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit foundation that studies health policy issues.

The report was released today in the journal Health Affairs.
Read more from this post.