tailieunhanh - MORE AMERICANS, INCLUDING MORE CHILDREN, NOW LACK HEALTH INSURANCE

Firms obviously choose to insure risk-averse workers when the premium is fair. They may choose to do so even if the premium is slightly higher than the expected cost. Nevertheless, if a firm’s expected health cost is significantly lower than the premium, it may choose not to offer insurance to workers. As we have just observed, small firms have higher variances in health costs. Hence, relative to large firms, more small firms will have expected costs that are significantly below the offered premium, and they choose not to offer insurance to workers. We have described a simple employment process and time-path of a firm facing workers. | Center on IP2h Budget I I d Policy Priorities 820 First Street NE Suite 510 Washington DC 20002 Tel 202-408-1080 Fax 202-408-1056 center@ Revised August 31 2007 MORE AMERICANS INCLUDING MORE CHILDREN NOW LACK HEALTH INSURANCE The number of uninsured Americans rose for the sixth consecutive year in 2006 to million 1 1 2 and the number of uninsured children rose for the second straight year to million according to Census data released on August 28. Between 1998 the year the State Children s Health Insurance Program SCHIP was implemented and 2004 the number of uninsured children fell every year. But since 2004 as the availability of funding for SCHIP expansion has tightened and as a restrictive Medicaid policy enacted in early 2006 has taken effect progress in enrolling uninsured children in SCHIP and Medicaid has stalled. Other factors very likely contributed to this outcome as well. With employer-based coverage continuing to erode the number of uninsured children under 18 has jumped by 1 million over the past two years from million uninsured children in 2004 to million in 2006. The number of uninsured children fell when the federal government and states worked together to increase coverage for children under SCHIP and Medicaid noted Robert Greenstein executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Now progress has stalled and begun to reverse. Moreover the Administration has announced a new policy that further weakens children s coverage under SCHIP by placing coverage of as many as several hundred thousand children at risk. The new Census data underscore the need for Congress to complete work on and the President to sign a strong SCHIP reauthorization bill before the program expires on September 30. The House and Senate have both passed SCHIP reauthorization bills that would make substantial progress in this area. The Congressional Budget Office CBO estimates the bills would allow to million uninsured