15 percent of Americans lacked health insurance last year

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/15-percent-americans-lacked-health-insurance-last-year-2D11755013

Maggie Fox NBC News
Dec. 17, 2013

The latest report to look at health insurance in the United States – covering almost the last period before Obamacare takes full effect – shows about 15 percent of all Americans went without health insurance during the first half of this year.

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From January to June of 2013, the survey shows, 14.6 percent of those interviewed had no health insurance. That’s 45.2 million people, including more than 5 million children. Everyone over 65 is supposed to be covered by Medicare, the federal health insurance plan for the elderly and some disabled, and data from people under 65 shows 16.8 percent had no health insurance.

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One reason for wanting to get people covered by some kind of insurance is so they will get regular medical care and in theory stay healthier. People who wait until they are acutely ill – like someone who is having a heart attack – cost far more to help than people who get treated early for high blood pressure or cholesterol, studies show. That’s even factoring in years of treatment.

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And about 6 percent said they had skipped some sort of needed medical care due to cost at some time during the past 12 months. That’s about the same as in 2012.

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