Economic numbers in Utah a mixed bag

Meanwhile, the number of people without health insurance declined to 45.7 million from last year's record 47 million, the census report says. Census officials and health insurance advocates attributed the decrease in the number of uninsured to the growing popularity of government-sponsored health insurance, including Medicaid and the state/federal Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

The number of people under 65 who are insured by government-funded health insurance increased by more than 2 million to 48.6 million.

The survey is more cloud than silver lining to health policy data analysts and child welfare advocates in the state.

Although insurance coverage improved in 2007, said Karen Crompton, executive director of Voices For Utah Children, "between the depths of the recession in 2001 and the economic peak in 2007, the number of uninsured Utahns increased."

The steep increases in the number of uninsured children leveled off in 2006 and 2007, Crompton said, thanks in large part to additional $4 million lawmakers approved for CHIP. The funding and a legislative commitment to keep enrollment open year-round will no doubt continue to improve access to health care for a significant number of the 70,000 Utah children — about twice as many as currently enrolled — in low-income families who still don't have coverage.

The study further veils Utah's ongoing problem — wages paid here don't support a reasonable standard of living.

Utahns make an average of $12.70 per hour. To pay rent on a two-bedroom apartment and not pay more than 30 percent of their income on housing, individuals need to earn $13.36 per hour, according to a recent statewide study by low-income advocates in Utah.

Inflation-adjusted wages show workers earning less now than they did in 1979 ($12.57). State and private homeless advocates key on that statistic, saying that the number of homeless in shelters or technically chronically on the street — about 2,000 on any given day — is easily surpassed by the number of people forced into transitional housing recently by job loss and foreclosures. Those numbers don't include those whose transitional housing is their cars or outdoor camps.

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