58,000 Utahns expected to lose insurance

Putting off health-care reform would only delay the inevitable and would mean thousands more people would lose medical insurance through job losses and the rapid rise in cost of insurance premiums, the consumer-based health-care policy and advocacy group Families USA reported Wednesday.

Between January 2008 and December 2010, 58,450 Utahns will lose coverage, according to the report. In that same period, the number of Americans without health coverage is expected to climb by an estimated 6.9 million.

An estimated 46 million Americans, including 300,000 Utahns, don't have health insurance. By the end of this year, 19,480 more Utahns will no longer have medical insurance, or 370 people per week, according to the state-by-state report.

The report, "The Clock Is Ticking: More Americans Losing Health Coverage," comes a day after a reform bill in the U.S. House was sent to committee for review and on the same day the Senate Health Committee OK'd a health-care reform bill. Democratic leaders in Congress have said there will be a vote on health-care reform before its August recess.

The most important factor causing the loss of health coverage is the rising cost of health-care premiums, Families USA executive director Ron Pollack said during a telephone news conference.

"Although the economic downturn is contributing to the problem, it is skyrocketing premiums — up 119 percent from 1999 to 2008 — that continue to have the greatest impact on family and employer health-care costs. In comparison, he said, the Consumer Price Index, which tracks general inflation, rose only 29.2 percent in the same period.

"Clearly, health-care costs are out of control, and these costs are making health coverage increasingly unaffordable," Pollack said. "This report spotlights the number of people who are losing coverage in the absence of health-care reform."

Employers that do continue to offer health coverage are being forced to pass on the rising costs to their employees by imposing higher premiums or co-payments or by offering plans that cover fewer benefits, Pollack said.

"Other employers are choosing not to offer coverage at all, because it is simply too expensive," he added.

Between 2000 and 2008, the share of businesses offering health coverage to employees declined 6 percentage points. In Utah, 40 percent of employers offer coverage.

The complete report is available at www.familiesusa.org.

e-mail: jthalman@desnews.com