NCPA


Policy Issues

NCPA Publications

Both Sides

Editorial Opinions

Audio/Visual


NATIONAL CENTER FOR POLICY ANALYSIS
HOME / DONATE / ONE LEVEL UP / ABOUT NCPA / CONTACT US
Even High-Income Americans are Abandoning Health Insurance
Daily Policy Digest

Health Issues / Health Policy And The Uninsured

Friday, November 22, 2002
The soaring cost of health-insurance premiums isn't just the problem of the poor. Affluent Americans are dropping their coverage as well.

  • While the working poor make up the biggest chunk of the 41.2 million Americans who lack insurance, 811,000 people with household incomes above $75,000 joined the ranks of the uninsured last year -- bringing that group's total to 6.6 million.
  • The reasons higher-income households go without coverage vary -- some are starting businesses and can't afford the extra expenses, and some lost their insurance when they were laid off.
  • And some are healthy and willing to take the chance they'll stay that way.
  • Then there are those who got sick -- even with mild conditions -- and can't find an insurer willing to offer them a policy.
Economists call those who could afford to buy insurance but choose not to "free riders," because they use public hospitals or emergency rooms if they fall ill. They also reduce the number of healthy people in the overall insurance pool, which potentially raises rates for everyone.

Source: Julie Appleby, "More High-Income Americans Go Without Health Insurance," USA Today, November 22, 2002.

For text
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2002-11-21-noinsure_x.htm

For more on Health Policy And The Uninsured
http://www.ncpa.org/iss/hea
12770 Coit Rd., Suite 800 - Dallas, TX 75251-1339 - 972/386-6272 - Fax 972/386-0924
601 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 900 South Building - Washington, DC 20004 - 202/220-3082 - Fax 202/220-3096
Copyright © 2002 National Center for Policy Analysis - All rights reserved.