Record numbers in US lack health insurance, though incomes rise

Washington - A record 46.6 million people in the United States had no health insurance last year, even as incomes rose and the poverty rate remained stable, a government report said Tuesday. Median income of US households grew by 1.1 per cent last year from 2004 to 46,326 dollars, the first rise since 1999, the study said. But a more narrow measure tracking the average US employee showed a less positive picture. Median earnings of full-time workers dropped last year by 1.8 per cent to 41,386 dollars for men and by 1.3 per cent to 31,858 for women, the US Census Bureau said in a nationwide annual survey of American households. With the US lacking a European-style national health care system with legally mandatory contributions, the share of people without health insurance coverage rose to 15.9 per cent. That was short of a record - the share of uninsured peaked at 16.3 per cent in 1998 - but the total number of nearly 47 million was the highest ever. At the same time, 37 million people in the world's richest nation - 7.7 million families, or 12.6 per cent of the populace - lived in poverty last year, unchanged from 2004 and ending four years in a row in which the poverty rate rose, the report said. The US government defines the poverty line as an annual income of just below 20,000 dollars for a family of four and 9,973 dollars for individuals. © 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

And Also

Look Back at the Worst Celebrity Breakups

Look Back at the Worst Celebrity Breakups - PopEater
Wii still stalling despite Thanksgiving surge - The Tech Herald
Yogi Bear Gets A Ranger Smith - Cinema Blend
About to Pop: Fallbrooke - PopEater
A&E series 'Hoarders' and 'Intervention' premiere Monday, Nov. 30th, preview

Your Talkback on this Story

Latest Headlines in US

Via BuzzFeed

US

US News

Record numbers in US lack health insurance, though incomes rise

And Also

Your Talkback on this Story

Similar articles

Latest Headlines in US

Older Talkback

From Sites we Like

In Monsters and Critics

Corporate

The Fine Print