Group Health Enrollment Plummets

The total number of people with any kind of health coverage fell to about 254 million in 2009, from about 255 million, and the number of uninsured people increased to 51 million, from 46 million.

The drop in the overall number of people with coverage came as the number of people with Medicaid coverage climbed to 48 million, from 43 million.

Although uninsured rates were higher for lower-income households, the Census Bureau found the uninsured rate was still 9.1% for households with annual incomes of $75,000 or greater.

The drop in the number of people covered occurred before Congress passed the Affordable Care Act, the package that includes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Karen Davis, president of the Commonwealth Fund, New York, says the new figures show how hard the recession has hit U.S. residents’ access to health care.

“Last year, nearly 7 million people lost coverage they previously obtained through an employer,” Davis says in a statement.

The figures show why middle-class families need the coverage subsidy options in the Affordable Care Act, the package that includes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), Davis says.

Health insurance groups have argued that the figures show the importance of eliminating government-imposed benefits mandates and making sure that any subsidies or other coverage access programs are designed to focus on providing aid to those most in need of help, to minimize distortion of the overall private health coverage market.