Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Number of Uninsured May Be Overstated, Studies Suggest

 LA Times story - "The number of Americans without health insurance — one of the most watched and worrisome indicators of economic well-being — may be overstated by as much as 20%, according to research conducted for the government. That could mean 9 million fewer uninsured, reducing the total to 36 million from the 45 million reported for 2003, the latest year for which data are available. The over-count appears to stem from technical problems with the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, but its implications could have broad consequences for the healthcare debate and for a federal child health program that uses survey data to allocate hundreds of millions of dollars to the states." [Viewing Los Angeles Times stories requires registration, which is free].