Study Finds More Than 9 Million People Lost Health Insurance in Recession

A new study shows very clearly that loss of income isn't the only hardship found by those who suddenly find themselves out of a job. In a paper titled, "The Impact of the Macroeconomy on Health Insurance Coverage: Evidence from the Great Recession" published on the National Bureau of Economic Research site, a group of researchers finds that over nine million Americans lost their health care coverage during the latest recession. What's perhaps even more troubling though, is the fact that despite economists' insistence that the recession has been over for at least a year, the majority of those who lost their health insurance due to job loss, are still going without.

According to the study, conducted using data from the Census and monthly unemployment figures, 9.3 million people found themselves suddenly without health insurance over the course of the two year recession. This came about partly as a result of job loss, and partly due to most people finding themselves without a job and also unable to afford COBRA; insurance offered to employees when they are laid off that they have to pay for themselves at full price.

The paper notes that the great recession of 2007-2009 as many have called it, was the longest and most severe since the Great Depression, a time when workers receiving health insurance through their employers was unheard of. And while unemployment this time around never reached the levels of that bygone era, it was high enough to bring the economy down for a period much longer than the two years it was officially in existence.

Interestingly, the study found that during the same time frame, more children wound up becoming insured due to virtually every state having a program in place to cover just such an instance. As more parents were laid off, more families became eligible for government run health programs.

The researchers also found that men were more likely to lose their insurance than women when losing their jobs, for the simple reason that women more often had children which made them eligible for state run health insurance programs.

And while the researchers make no mention of the underemployed, it's clear that many people who lost their jobs when employers started reducing the workforce, are still having to go without insurance, as those people are no longer counted in the unemployment figures. This is because low paying jobs don't offer health insurance or any other type of benefits, forcing the underpaid to either go without, or somehow come up with enough money to buy it themselves.