47 Million Americans Lack Health Insurance: Report

Notice that the increase of over 20% has happened during the Bush years. This is the same President that veto SCHIP funding. It's a good thing the stock market is booming because who knows how many more Americans would be out in the cold. I'm sure the White House would argue that the unemployment rate is below 5 percent. Don't worry be happy:

The number of Americans lacking health insurance rose by nearly 8.6 million to 47 million from 2000 to 2006, with children and workers from every income level losing coverage, a new report said on Thursday.

The increase was "driven primarily by the continued erosion in employer-provided health insurance," said the report by the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute.

[...]Nearly 60 percent of the nation's children are covered by the insurance provided by their parents' employers, but 3.4 million fewer children had benefits in 2006 compared with 2000.

"Public health insurance is no longer offsetting these losses," said the report by the nonpartisan think-tank.

Even the rich are losing their insurance:

No category of workers was insulated from loss of coverage," as even workers whose earnings placed them in the top quintile saw coverage rates fall, the report said.

Speaking of the stock market, it took another big plunge. This means more people are losing their insurances since they are going to lose their jobs. If the number of people without insurance has been in the tens of millions for decades, despite a "booming" economy, can you imagine how many will lose their insurance when the economy plunges into a recession, or worse:

Wall Street plunged Thursday, pulling the Dow Jones industrial average more than 330 points, as investors found themselves confronted by two uncomfortable prospects: an end to interest rate cuts and a slowing economy.

Mindful of a warning from the Federal Reserve Wednesday about inflation, the market nervously watched the price of oil, which passed $96 a barrel overnight for the first time before dipping on profit-taking. The Fed, which cut interest rates a quarter point, said in a statement that inflation remained a concern, and oil's ascent to another record raised the possibility not only that the Fed might stop cutting rates, but that it might even consider raising them if inflation accelerates.