No Care for the Caregivers

Declining Health Insurance Coverage for Health Care Personnel and Their Children, 1988–1998

Bibliographic Data

ID11019803
AuthorsBrady G S Case (Brady G. S. Case is a medical student at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass. David U. Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler are with the Department of Medicine, The Cambridge Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Mass.), Brady G Case (0000-0001-9512-0416, Cambridge Hospital), David U Himmelstein (0000-0002-2394-4915, Brady G. S. Case is a medical student at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass. David U. Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler are with the Department of Medicine, The Cambridge Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Mass.), Steffie Woolhandler (0000-0002-8965-1058, Brady G. S. Case is a medical student at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass. David U. Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler are with the Department of Medicine, The Cambridge Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Mass.)
Year2002
Volume92
Issue3
Pages404-408
Publication date2002-03-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0090-0036 • E-ISSN: 1541-0048
PublisherAmerican Public Health Association (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2105/ajph.92.3.404
PMID11867320
OpenAlexW2130545151
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited11

Objectives. This study examined trends in health insurance coverage for health care workers and their children between 1988 and 1998. Methods. We analyzed data from the annual March supplements of the Current Population Survey (CPS), a Census Bureau survey that collects information about health insurance from a nationally representative sample of noninstitutionalized US residents. Results. Of the health care personnel younger than 65 years, 1.36 million (90% confidence interval [CI] = 1.28 million, 1.45 million) were uninsured in 1998, up 83.4% from 1988; the proportion uninsured rose from 8.4% (90% CI = 7.8%, 9.1%) to 12.2% (90% CI = 11.5%, 12.9%). Declining coverage rates in the growing private-sector health care workforce—and declining health employment in the public sector, which provided health insurance benefits to more of its workers—accounted for the increases. Households with a health care worker included 1.12 million (90% CI = 1.05 million, 1.20 million) uninsured children, accounting for 10.1% (90% CI = 9.5%, 10.8%) of all uninsured children in the United States. Conclusions. Health care personnel are losing health insurance coverage more rapidly than are other workers. Increasingly, the health care sector is consigning its own workers and their children to the ranks of the uninsured

Census · Confidence interval · Economic growth · Environmental health · Health care · Health insurance · Population · Public health · Workforce · Demography · Food Security and Health in Diverse Populations · Healthcare Policy and Management · Healthcare Systems and Reforms · Medicine · Nursing

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