Black Catholic Chicago

Did you know that 1,818,000 people do not have health insurance in Illinois? That’s 14.4% of the population. This issue demands our attention.

As the price of health care continues to rise, fewer individuals and families can afford to pay for coverage. Fewer small businesses are able to provide coverage for their employees, and those that do are struggling to hold on to the coverage the offer. It is a problem that affects us all. Cover the Uninsured Week will mobilize thousands of business owners, union members, educators, students, patients, hospital staff, physicians, nurses, faith leaders and their congregants, and many others at press conferences, health and enrollment fairs and other activities held May 1-8, 2005.

Overview

The problem of the uninsured is growing worse. The federal government estimates that 45 million Americans lack coverage of any kind for an entire year. Other research shows that tens of millions more Americans go without health coverage for shorter periods of time.

Recent Census Bureau data demonstrate that the problem of the uninsured has grown worse in 2003. According to figures released in August 2003, 45 million people- 15.6 percent of the total U.S. population –were uninsured in 2003, up from 15.3 percent in the previous year.
The percentage of the non-elderly population that is uninsured has climbed steadily from 13.7 percent in 1987 to 17.7 percent in 2003 (with a slight dip of no more than one percentage point around the turn of the century.

Facts

Age

As most elderly people are covered by Medicare, nearly all the uninsured are under age 65. Children are more likely to have coverage than non-elderly adults, which reflects their much higher rates of public coverage through Medicaid and SCHIP.

After age 25, the probability of being uninsured declines gradually with age and greater connection to the labor force.
Near-elderly people, those ages 55 to 64, who consume more health care on average than younger adults, account for about one in eight uninsured non-elderly adults (10.2 percent),
People ages 25 to 44 account for one-half of uninsured non-elderly adults.

Children

Nearly twenty percent of uninsured Americans- 8.4 million individuals- are children. While children are more likely to be insured than non-elderly adults, health insurance is particularly important for children. Uninsured children are more likely than insured children to lack a usual source of health care, to go without needed care and to experience worse health outcomes.

Almost 4 in 10 (38.3 percent) of uninsured children are White, compared to 34.8 percent Hispanic and 19.1 percent Black.
Hispanic children are far more likely to be uninsured (21.0 percent) than non-Hispanic White children (7.4 percent), Black children (14.0 percent), and Asian children (12.4 percent).
3 in 10 children (29.3 percent) without coverage are under six years old.

Sources of Coverage

11.4% of children or 8.4 million are uninsured. An estimated 5 million uninsured children are eligible for SCHIP or Medicaid but are not enrolled.
58.3% of children, 42.9 million are covered through employment-based health insurance.
In 2003, an estimated 21.4 million children or 3 in 10 (29.1%) were covered by a public source of health insurance.
Of these children, an estimated 19.4 million were enrolled in Medicaid, a public health insurance program that covers low-income children, financed through federal and state governments, or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
The remainder, an estimated 4.8 million children, were enrolled in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), in which includes Medicaid expansion and separate state programs. (SCHIP was created in 1997 to cover children who live in families with income or resources that exceed Medicaid eligibility limits but who cannot afford private coverage. Like Medicaid, SCHIP is financed by a combination of federal and state funds).
The decline in employment-based coverage of children from 63.1% in 2000 to 58.3% in 2003 was offset by an increase in public coverage though Medicaid or SCHIP (from 20.3% to 26.4%).
In 1997, when SCHIP was created, 23% of low-income children (living in families with incomes below 200% of poverty) were uninsured. By early2003, 14% were uninsured, a reduction of more than one-third. This success is attributable to enrollment in SCHIP and increased enrollment of poor children in Medicaid (through outreach as well as simplified and improved enrollment processes).

For more information on how you can get involved in Cover The Uninsured Week contact Mary Morrissey at 773/238-3028 or mary.morrisseypa.com if you live in the Chicago area. If you live elsewhere in Illinois please contact A.J Lenar at 202/572-2982 or AJ.Lenar@GMMB.com. For those outside the state of Illinois the web address is http://covertheuninsuredweek.org.