Released: August 29, 2007

Census: Health benefits scarcer

Source: Julie Appleby, USA Today

New numbers from the Census Bureau will likely fuel political debate in Congress and statehouses about the growing problem of the uninsured: Their ranks rose by 2.2 million in 2006.

Overall, 47 million people lacked health insurance last year, the Census numbers released Tuesday showed, up from 44.8 million in 2005. The percentage of the U.S. population lacking health insurance last year rose to 15.8%, the highest level since 1998. In 2005, 15.3% were uninsured.

The addition of more than 2 million people to the uninsured comes as Congress and the White House wrangle about whether to expand a program to insure children of low-income families. The Census figures showed the percentage of uninsured children hit 11.7% last year, up from 10.9% in 2005.

The House and Senate are working to reconcile two bills that would expand the program by up to $50 billion over five years so more children could be covered. President Bush has proposed a $5 billion increase over five years and threatened to veto any larger expansion.

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