Access to Job-Based Insurance for California's Workers and their Families: The Effect of the Great Recession and Double-Digit Unemployment in California (original) (raw)
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One in five Californians were uninsured in 2005 despite modest gains in coverage
Policy brief (UCLA Center for Health Policy Research), 2006
Six and one-half million Californians were uninsured for all or some of 2005, a number that is as large as the combined populations of nine other states. The number of uninsured represented one in five children and nonelderly adults, a rate that was slightly lower than in 2003 due to California's tight labor markets and expanding enrollment and retention in California's public coverage programs for children. These marginal improvements are unlikely to continue unabated given the instability of employment-based insurance coverage in the face of rising costs. In this policy brief, we compare insurance coverage over time using the California Health Interview Surveys conducted in 2001, 2003 and 2005. We look at the type of coverage over the past 12 months for both children and nonelederly adults.
Job-based insurance declines for moderate- and low-income workers
Ucla Center For Health Policy Research, 2007
etween 2001 and 2005, employment-based insurance coverage fell dramatically among the 6.5 million workers with moderate-or low-incomes, more than a third of all nonelderly workers in the state. The decline occurred despite the strong economy and tight labor market in the last few years. B This policy brief, based on analyses of data from the 2001 and 2005 California Health Interview Surveys (CHIS), examines changes in employment-based insurance of working Californians, ages 19-64.
Ucla Center For Health Policy Research, 2002
An estimated 4,519,000 Californians lacked health insurance at the time they were interviewed in 2001 based on data from the new California Health Interview Survey (CHIS 2001). An additional 1,753,000 persons were insured when interviewed, but were uninsured during at least some of the preceding 12 months. Thus, a total of 6.3 million Californians experienced lack of coverage during at least some part of a year. s Employment-based health insurance remains critically important, covering nearly two-thirds of all nonelderly adults and children in California (18.7 million). s MediCal and Healthy Families combined cover 16% of Californian children and adults under 65-a total of 4.65 million nonelderly persons. s Despite the important role these sources of coverage play, together with privately purchased insurance and some additional public programs, 15.2% of nonelderly Californians remain uninsured.
California Journal of Politics and Policy, 2015
Background: The economic recession that began in 2008, or the "Great Recession," did not affect all counties in California equally. With differential effects of economic indicators such as job loss, it is possible that differential effects were also seen in health insurance rates by county and demographic group. Objective: To study whether the Great Recession had a differential impact on the uninsured rates among counties in California. Research Design: A four-level "recession index" measured the impact of various economic indicators, between the populations uninsured for all or part of the prior year in 2009 compared to 2007. Methods: Data sources include the 2007 and 2009 California Health Interview Surveys and California Employment Development Department unemployment data. Results: The medium recession impact group (that is, counties with high increases in unemployment and lower household incomes on average) had the highest growth in the uninsured rates, due to a large drop in job-based coverage only partially offset by public coverage. Changes in coverage by demographic groups were similar among recession index categories. Conclusions: We find that the uninsured in 2009 were older, more likely to be U.S.-born citizens, had lower household incomes, and were more likely to be unemployed and looking for work, regardless of the impact of the Great Recession at the county level. The growth in the uninsured rates in the medium-impact group highlights the importance of public health insurance programs as a safety net during economic downturns.
Health coverage of low-income citizen and noncitizen wage earners: sources and disparities
The health coverage of low-income workers represents an area of continuing disparities in the United States system of health insurance. Using the 2001 California Health Interview Survey, we estimate the effect of low-income wage earners' citizenship and gender on the odds of obtaining primary employment-based health insurance (EBHI), dependent EBHI, public program coverage, and coverage from any source. We find that non-citizen men and women who comprise 40% of California's low-income workforce, share the disadvantage of much lower rates of insurance coverage, compared to naturalized and U.S.-born citizens. However, poor coverage rates of noncitizen men, regardless of permanent residency status, result from the cumulative disadvantage in obtaining dependent EBHI and public insurance. If public policies designed to provide a health care safety net fail to address the health care coverage needs of low-wage noncitizens, health disparities will continue to increase in this group that contributes essentially to the U.S. economy.
Affilia, 2013
The study reported here determined that a national sample of single mothers had no health care coverage for an average of 9.35 months during a 32-month period during and after the Great Recession that began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. Using comprehensively defined employment problems, it also found that adequately employed single mothers had the fewest months without health care coverage (M ¼ 4.36), which more than doubled for those who experienced unemployment or involuntary gaps in employment, and tripled for those who experienced underemployment. The multivariate results confirm that employment problems place single mothers at a high risk of lacking health insurance. Implications for health care policy are discussed.
Ucla Center For Health Policy Research, 2003
One in five nonelderly Californians-6.3 million in alllacked health insurance for all or part of 2001. This report, based on data from the 2001 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS 2001), examines long-term and intermittent health insurance coverage, and the sources and consequences of resulting periods of uninsurance. ■ Over half of these Californians-a total of 3.3 millionwere uninsured for longer than one year. ■ 1.2 million were uninsured for seven to 12 months. ■ 853,000 were uninsured for four to six months. ■ 954,000 were uninsured for just one to three months-15% of all uninsured Californians.