Middle class joining ranks of uninsured millions

DALLAS — The last time Kevin Thornton had health insurance was three years ago. The lack of it was not a problem until he began having trouble swallowing and had to go to the doctor.

Thornton, who lives in Sherman, said a barium X-ray cost him $130, and the radiologist another $70, which he charged. Further tests, he could not afford.

Thornton, 41, left a stable job with health coverage in 1998 for a dot-com company that went bust. Since then, he has worked on contract for various companies, including one that provided insurance until 2000.

Thornton is one of more than 43 million people in the United States who lack health insurance, and their numbers are rapidly increasing because of soaring costs and job losses. Many states, including Texas, are also cutting subsidies for health care.

Most of the uninsured are neither poor by official standards nor unemployed. They are accountants like Thornton, employees of small businesses, civil servants, single working mothers and those working part-time or on contract.

"Now it's hitting people who look like you and me, dress like you and me, drive nice cars and live in nice houses but can't afford $1,000 a month for health insurance," said R. King Hillier, director of legislative relations for Harris County.

Paying for insurance is becoming a middle-class problem, and not just here. "After paying for health insurance, you take home less than minimum wage," says a poster in New York City subways sponsored by Working Today, a nonprofit agency that offers insurance to independent contractors in New York. In Southern California, 70,000 supermarket workers have been on strike for five weeks over plans to cut benefits.

The crisis is especially visible in Texas, which has the highest proportion of uninsured in the country — almost one in every four residents. The state has a lot of immigrants, a lot of low-wage service sector jobs, and it has a high number of small businesses, which are less likely to provide benefits.

State cuts to insurance subsidies to close a $10 billion budget gap will cost the state $500 million in federal matching money. In September, for example, more than half a million children enrolled in a state- and federal-subsidized program lost dental, vision and most mental care coverage, and some 169,000 children will lose all insurance by 2005.

"These were tough economic times that the Legislature was dealing with," said Kathy Walt, spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry.

She noted that the Legislature raised spending on health and human services by $1 billion this year, and that lawmakers passed two bills intended to make it easier for small businesses to provide health insurance for their employees.

Those measures, however, will not help the many Texas residents who have to make tough choices about medical care they need but cannot afford.