More than 38 million Americans under age 65 went without health insurance at some point in 1992, an increase of more than 2 million from the year before, a new study says.
Declines in coverage for people who work for small companies accounted for a large part of the increase, said the study by the private Employee Benefit Research Institute, which was based on Census Bureau figures tabulated in March."It just goes to show why we need universal coverage," Jeff Eller, the White House spokesman on health care, said of the surge.
"We all pay for those who don't currently have insurance," Eller added. "They get health care when it's too late and it's the most expensive."
The study found that 38.5 million non-elderly Americans without private or public health insurance during all or part of 1992 - up from the 36.3 million who were uninsured in 1991. Over three years, that number has climbed by more than 4 million.
The figure from 1991 is the one that has been widely used by President Clinton and other advocates of health-care reform in citing the need for wholesale change.