One-quarter of adults went without health care last year, report finds

www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/04/19/145944/one-quarter-of-adults-went-without.html?storylink=MI_emailed

By Noam N. Levy | McClatchy Tribune Newswire Posted on Thursday, April 19, 2012

With the future of the health care law emerging as a major campaign issue this fall, a new survey has found that more than a quarter of adults ages 19 to 64 in the United States lacked health insurance for at least some time in 2011.

And the vast majority of those people, nearly 70 percent, had been without coverage for more than a year, according to the study by the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund, a leading authority on health policy.

The holes in health insurance were a driving force in President Barack Obama's push for the controversial health care overhaul he signed in 2010. Close to 50 million people in the country now lack coverage, a number that has been rising as employers eliminate jobs or cut back health benefits.

Research, including the Commonwealth Fund survey, indicates that people without health insurance often skip needed medical care and do not get vital preventive services such as cancer screenings.

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