Some 5.4 Million Americans Lost Health Care Coverage Between February And May, Analysis Estimates
- July 14, 2020
The New York Times (7/13, Stolberg) reports the COVID-19 “pandemic stripped an estimated 5.4 million American workers of their health insurance between February and May, a stretch in which more adults became uninsured because of job losses than have ever lost coverage in a single year, according to a new analysis” conducted by Families USA. The group “found that the estimated increase in uninsured workers from February to May was nearly 40 percent higher than the highest previous increase, which occurred during the recession of 2008 and 2009, when 3.9 million adults lost insurance.”
Fox Business (7/13, De Lea) reports, “States, where more than 20 percent of nonelderly adults are uninsured, include Texas, Florida, Nevada, Georgia and Oklahoma.” Over “50 million people have filed unemployment claims since mid-March, which poses a problem since a majority of Americans obtain health insurance through their workplace.”