The number of people without health insurance rose by 1.4
million to 45.0 million between 2002 and 2003, according to a report by the
Census Bureau. The percentage of the nation's population without coverage grew
from 15.2 percent in 2002 to 15.6 percent in 2003.
The percentage of people with healthcare coverage dropped from 84.8 percent to
84.4 percent, mirroring a drop in the percentage of people covered by
employment-based health insurance (61.3 percent in 2002 to 60.4 percent in
2003). This decline in employment-based health insurance coverage essentially
explains the drop in total private health insurance coverage, from 69.6 percent
in 2002 to 68.6 percent in 2003, according to the report.
The percentage of people covered by government health insurance programs rose
in 2003, from 25.7 percent to 26.6 percent, largely as the result of increases
in Medicaid and Medicare coverage. Medicaid coverage rose 0.7 percentage points
to 12.4 percent in 2003, and Medicare coverage increased 0.2 percentage points
to 13.7 percent.
The proportion of the foreign-born population without health insurance (34.5
percent) was about two-and-a-half times that of the native population (13.0
percent) in 2003.