Help on the Horizon: How the Recession Has Left Millions of Workers Without Health Insurance, and How Health Reform Will Bring Relief

Using data from The Commonwealth Biennial Health Insurance Survey of 2010 and prior years, this report examines the effect of the recession on the health insurance coverage of adults between the ages of 19 and 64 and the implications for their finances and access to health care. The survey finds that in the last two years a majority (57%) of men and women who lost a job that had health benefits became uninsured. Both insured and uninsured Americans struggled to pay medical bills and faced cost-related barriers to getting needed care. When fully implemented in 2014, the Affordable Care Act will bring relief: nearly all of the 52 million working-age adults who were without health insurance for a time in 2010 will be covered, most with subsidized premiums and reduced cost-sharing. No one who is legally present will have to go without insurance when they lose their job, and no one will be charged a higher premium because of a health problem, have a problem excluded from coverage, or be denied coverage