Fewer Have Health Coverage, U.S. Says

An estimated 43.4 million Americans had no health insurance last year, up 1.7 million from the previous year, the Census Bureau reported. Most likely to lack coverage were young adults between the ages of 18 and 24, Latinos, the less educated, part-time workers and the foreign born, the bureau said in a statement. “The share of the population without health insurance increased from 15.6% in 1996 to 16.1% in 1997,” the bureau said. About one-half of the full-time working poor and nearly one-third of all poor people were uninsured last year, the bureau said. Latinos were the most likely among racial and ethnic groups to lack coverage--about 34.2% were uninsured. For non-Latino whites, 12% were uninsured.