Analysis: Uninsured Workers Cost Society Billions

The U.S. public paid about $45 billion in 2004 to help full-time workers and dependents of full-time workers who have no employer-sponsored health coverage.

Columbia University researchers have published data supporting that estimate in an analysis released by the Commonwealth Fund, New York.

The total includes $33 billion spent on covering full-time workers and dependents through public insurance programs, such as Medicaid, and about $12 billion spent on health care for full-time workers and dependents who had no health coverage, the researchers write.