Uninsurance: Real Women, Real Consequences

by Lisa Codispoti, Senior Advisor
and Brigette Courtot, Policy Analyst
National Women’s Law Center

News about America’s health care crisis is particularly prominent this week, since the national weeklong “Cover the Uninsured”  campaign began on Monday. Health advocates across the country have organized press conferences, community forums, and other such events this week to call attention to the plight of the 47 million Americans who don’t have health insurance. In recognition of the campaign, today we highlight the many women who are uninsured. In 2006, more than 17 million women lacked health coverage – that’s nearly one in five. 

So, who are the uninsured women? Last year, we answered that question in our issue brief Women and Health Coverage: The Affordability Gap. We found that almost two-thirds are poor or near-poor, living in families with incomes at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level (that’s about $35,000 a year for a family of three). Most work full- or part-time. Women of color are over-represented among the uninsured, especially Latinas. Young women also make up a disproportionate share of those without coverage. A little less than 50 percent of all uninsured women are married, and more than a third live in a household with children.

And, why is this a big deal? There is no disputing the relationship between health insurance and access to health care. Uninsured Americans are far more likely than their insured counterparts to report problems getting the preventive and acute medical care that they need, which can lead to more serious health problems. They are diagnosed at more advanced disease stages – for example, uninsured women are substantially more likely to be diagnosed with advanced stage breast cancer than women with private insurance. The uninsured also have higher mortality rates – one study estimates that from 2000 to 2006, uninsurance resulted in 137,000 excess deaths among nonelderly adults. Morbidity and mortality aside, uninsurance also has serious financial consequences – a poll released yesterday found that, compared to the insured, nonelderly uninsured adults were almost twice as likely to report at least one of several economic problems related to their medical bills (such as being unable to pay for basic necessities or getting a second mortgage).

Now, it’s “broken record” time: We’ve said it before. We’ll say it again. The costs of uninsurance are very real and include (among other things) increased disease, suffering, and death. Expanding affordable health coverage to the millions of American women, men, and children who don’t currently have it must be a national priority.  Making sure that this coverage is adequate to cover our health care needs must be a national priority.  Since 2000, the ranks of the uninsured have risen by more than 9 million people – how high will this number go, and how many studies detailing the consequences of uninsurance will be published, before we enact comprehensive health reform?