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New Study Shows Uninsured Crisis Wildly Overestimated

The Employment Policies Institute (EPI) has released the results of a new study. that shows that the “widely employed estimate of 47 million uninsured Americans is a misleading representation of the problem.”

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The study, authored by Drs. June and David O’Neill of Baruch College and City University of New York, shows that more than 43 percent of uninsured Americans ages 18-64 could likely afford health coverage and are actually “voluntarily uninsured.”

Using data from a number of surveys to determine what percentage of uninsured Americans are actually unable to afford it, the study finds that at least 43 percent of Americans in the 18-64 year-old age group have incomes at least 2.5 times the poverty level and are “voluntarily” uninsured.

The study finds that 79 percent of people with incomes between 2.5 and 3.75 times the poverty level currently purchase private health insurance. In view of the large percentages covered at this level, the authors consider this uninsured group as having enough disposable income to purchase health insurance.

The uninsured population also varies dramatically from state to state. For example, thirty percent of Texas residents are uninsured, compared to 18 percent of New York and 13 percent of D.C. residents. Three states (Texas, Florida and California) make up a third of the uninsured population.

June 3rd 2009
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Anthem Blue Cross Provides Access to Comprehensive Transparency Tool

Anthem Blue Cross has announced that its industry-leading transparency initiative will be available to members in the following counties in the state of California: Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Kern, Sacramento/Placer and Yolo counties, San Diego, Imperial County, Orange County, San Joaquin/Valley, North Coast/North state, South Bay/South Coast, San ...
June 1st 2009
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BlueCross Makes Coverage Available for South Carolina Graduates Lacking Health Insurance

According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), employers will hire twenty two percent fewer college graduates in 2009 than they did last year. What does that mean? Recent college grads will not have health insurance. They'll either go without health insurance or they will need to purchase ...
May 30th 2009
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Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Donates to ASCO Cancer Foundation

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth (NYSE:WYE), has donated $100,000 to The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Cancer Foundation to help support its efforts to advance cancer research, provide patients with important health information and conduct physician education programs. The donation was presented today during the 45th Annual Meeting ...

Top Blue Cross and Blue Shield-Branded Managed Care Organizations Lost More Than One Million Members in the First Half of 2008

HealthLeaders-InterStudy's Managed Market Surveyor-Rx Evaluates How Medical and Pharmacy Lives are Covered at National, State and MSA Levels NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 11 /PRNewswire/ -- HealthLeaders-InterStudy, the leading provider of managed care market intelligence, reports that the 15 largest Blue Cross and Blue Shield-branded managed care organizations collectively lost more than one ...
May 7th 2009
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Decho Doubles Number of Mozy Healthcare Customers

Cost Savings, Compliance and Protection of Patient Information Drives Healthcare Organizations to Adopt Mozy SEATTLE, May 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Decho Corporation, an EMC Company (NYSE:EMC) , today announced the number of healthcare organizations using its industry-leading MozyPro(R) online backup solution to protect patient information has more than doubled in the past ...

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