388,000 Utahns lack health insurance

Wall Street and the global economy may have gone off the rails, but the runaway health-care system — widely regarded back in the good ol' days a few weeks ago as the single-biggest economic threat — just keeps gaining momentum.

According to figures released today by the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Americans without medical insurance has reached a record high. Nearly 47 million nationwide don't have coverage, including 388,000 Utahns. That's nearly 100,000 more than state agencies estimated, and 40,000 more than worst-case predictions by local advocates for the uninsured.

For government officials and health-care policy analysts, seeing an 8 percent increase over the totals the census announced eight years ago is a little like telling a homeowner with a flooded basement how deep the water is.

"It may change a sense of urgency in trying to address this problem, but it really doesn't change our focus," Rep. David Clark, R-Santa Clara and co-chairman of a special legislative task force mapping out the state's reform efforts, told the Deseret News.

"Windows of opportunity come and go," Clark said. "And right now, across this country and in this state in particular, the window is open economically and politically," he said, referring to the dual imperative of health-care costs running rampant and impending top-down health-care reforms promised as recently as Tuesday night by both candidates for U.S. president.

Unlike the larger economic turmoil and the forces trying to shape solutions, "health-care reform remains in our hands," Clark said. "Enhancing both access and quality ourselves will be a much better solution than anything that is imposed. And becoming part of that effort at this stage is as open to the single mom who can't find coverage to the business owner trying to cover employees in the face of double-digit insurance premiums."

At least 20 states nationwide have health-care reform projects under way, and some are pointing out the latest census report is based on data that were gathered two years ago and thereby don't reflect recent efforts to expand insurance, which could actually lower the tally.

In Utah, for example, lawmakers the past two years have increased funding for and removed the enrollment cap on the state/federal Children's Health Insurance Plan that provides medical insurance to kids in working families who don't have medical benefits through the workplace.

The figures also could be worse, given the fact that employer-provided medical plans have rapidly declined nationwide, and Utah is leading the way.

A year ago next month, the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan economic think tank, reported that the portion of Utah workers younger than 65 covered by an employer-based insurance plan dropped 8.9 percent between 2000 and 2006, the biggest drop in the nation.

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