New Census Data: Nearly One Million Virginians Lack Health Coverage, Job-Based Coverage in Decline

Recession Likely to Further Expand Ranks of Uninsured

September 10, 2009

RICHMOND -- Roughly one-in-seven Virginians lacked health coverage in 2007 and 2008,
according to new data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau, and employer-provided health
insurance continued to decline nationwide. The percentage of Virginians with employerprovided
coverage was 64.4 percent, down from 68.3 percent in 2000 and 2001. These findings,
which will almost certainly worsen in 2009 because of the recession, highlight the need to enact
comprehensive health care reform.

“While Virginia is in better shape than many other states, far too many Virginians lack adequate
health coverage or are at risk of losing coverage,” says Michael Cassidy, Executive Director of
The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis. “Also, today’s numbers don’t reflect the full
impact of the recession. The severity of job loss we’ve seen and the continued fiscal crisis in our
state suggest we’ll see bad news in the numbers for 2009.”

According to Census data, 13.6 percent of Virginia’s population were uninsured in 2007-2008,
compared with 10.3 percent lacking coverage at the start of the decade (2000-2001). The Census
figures for Virginia average two years of survey data in order to improve the reliability of the
estimates.

Erosion of employer-sponsored health insurance is the primary cause of the lost ground in
coverage, which in turn reflects the rising cost of health care. Both employers and employees are
having greater difficulty affording health insurance. In 2000-2001, 67.9 percent of individuals in
Virginia had employer-sponsored health insurance. That share dropped to 66.65 percent in 2005-
2006 and to 63.15 percent in 2007-2008.

The number of uninsured individuals in Virginia would have been even higher if public coverage
(Military/Government, Medicaid and Medicare) had not increased from 26.7 percent of
individuals in 2000-2001 to 29.0 percent in 2007-2008 which compensated for some of the
losses in employer-sponsored insurance over the same period.

Since this data was collected, Virginia's unemployment rate has risen from 4% in 2008 to 6.9%
in July of 2009, an increase of over 72%. This compares to just a one percentage point increase
in the unemployment rate between 2007 and 2008.

“In other words, based upon the upward trend in unemployment, only about one quarter of the
total deterioration in the economy since 2007 is captured in the new Census data,” says Cassidy.
Virginia’s current uninsured rate is likely higher than the data shows since most people get their
health insurance through their jobs.

“Today’s numbers are just the front edge of what we know to be a devastating recession for
Virginia workers and families,” says Cassidy. “Virginia’s policymakers face tough decisions
about how to fill shortfalls in this year’s budget and burgeoning ones in next year’s. Getting
serious about needed revenues to minimize cuts in public health insurance programs will be
critical to helping hard-pressed families stay afloat.”