New Report Shows Middle Class Shouldering the Brunt of Health Insurance Crisis

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Mar 18th, 2010

New Report Shows Middle Class Shouldering the Brunt of Health Insurance Crisis

A new report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation shows that since 2000 more than 145,000 middle-income earners in Kentucky have become uninsured. These are Kentuckians with incomes between $44,100 to $87,979 (200% to 399% of the federal poverty level) for a family of four.

Barely Hanging On: Middle-Class and Uninsured chronicles state-by-state health coverage trends.  In the first decade of this century, nearly every state has seen increased numbers of uninsured residents, greater costs for individual and family policies for health insurance, and significant erosion in private coverage. The report was prepared by the State Health Access Data Assistance Center at the University of Minnesota.

These new numbers should come as no surprise to anyone paying attention to the economic and health care climate, but it is a sobering reminder that the cost of health insurance is far outpacing income. Everyone is suffering right now, regardless of income, but this new report shows the middle class is hardest hit.

For middle class families, changes in the cost of insurance outweigh changes in income. That means a bigger piece of family budgets must go to insurance, or families have to go without coverage, delay needed care, and face bankruptcy if a family member gets seriously ill.

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