The median household income in the US increased
from $47,845 in 2005 to $48,201 in 2006, leaving the average
American family 0.7 percent better off in real terms, according to
a report published by the US Census Bureau. However, despite this
improvement in income, the number of people without health
insurance coverage rose from 44.8 million in 2005 to 47 million in
2006. As a proportion of the total population, this represented an
increase from 15.3 percent to 15.8 percent.
Of the 282 million people with health insurance
cover, 201.7 million (71.5 percent) had private cover while the
remainder were covered by government plans. Of those with private
cover, 191.5 million were covered by a health insurance plan
related to employment.
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The Census Bureau noted that while the total number of people
covered by private insurance was unchanged in 2006, as a proportion
of the total population private coverage decreased to 67.9 percent
from 68.5 percent in 2005.
Analysing demographic groups, the Census Bureau reported that the
number of foreign-born US residents who were uninsured rose from
11.8 million in 2005 to 12.6 million in 2006. This represented 33.8
percent of the population group in both years. The number of
uninsured US-born residents increased from 33 million (12.8 percent
of the population group) in 2005 to 34.4 million (13.2 percent) in
2006.
Among different ethnic groups, the US Census Bureau report revealed
that Hispanics were the most likely to be uninsured. In 2006 34.1
percent (15.3 million people) of Hispanics were uninsured, up from
32.3 percent (14 million people) in 2005.The most widely insured
ethnic group was non-Hispanic whites. The number of uninsured in
this group remained statistically unchanged in 2006 at 21.2 million
or 10.8 percent of that category. In the black ethnic group, 20.5
percent (7.6 million people) were uninsured compared with 19
percent (7 million people) in 2005.
Disturbingly, the number of uninsured children increased from 8
million (10.9 percent) in 2005 to 8.7 million (11.7 percent) in
2006.
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