According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Americans without health coverage has fallen for the first time in 20 years—to 45.7 million in 2007 from 47 million in 2006.
At the same time, the percentage of Americans with private health insurance fell from 67.9% in 2006 to 67.5% in 2007. An additional 1.3 million Americans went on Medicaid, 1 million were added to Medicare, and 400,000 to military health care programs.
States with budgetary problems are, however, trying to cut back on Medicaid enrollment—although the American Enterprise Institute estimates that the poverty rate now is half a percentage point higher than in June 2007 (Wall St J 8/27/08).
The way to enable more Americans to obtain private coverage is to reduce the cost. According to a new study by Stephen Parente and Roger Feldman of the University of Minnesota, Congress could boost the number of privately insured by permitting people to buy health insurance across state lines (Grace-Marie Turner, Wall St J 8/27/08).
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