For Middle Class, Health Insurance Becomes a Luxury

News and Opinion for Democrats Against Bush -- Part II

For Middle Class, Health Insurance Becomes a Luxury

"Mr. Thornton is one of more than 43 million people in the United States who lack health insurance, and their numbers are rapidly increasing because of ever soaring cost and job losses. ... The majority of the uninsured are neither poor by official standards nor unemployed."

New York Times November 16, 2003

For Middle Class, Health Insurance Becomes a Luxury

By STEPHANIE STROM

The complete article may be purchased online from the New York Times website at-- http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30E1FFD3B5C0C758DDDA80994DB404482

Excerpt--

DALLAS — ... Mr. Thornton is one of more than 43 million people in the United States who lack health insurance, and their numbers are rapidly increasing because of ever soaring cost and job losses. Many states, including Texas, are also cutting back on subsidies for health care, further increasing the number of people with no coverage.

The majority of the uninsured are neither poor by official standards nor unemployed. They are accountants like Mr. Thornton, employees of small businesses, civil servants, single working mothers and those working part time or on contract. ...

Paying for health insurance is becoming a middle-class problem, and not just here. "After paying for health insurance, you take home less than minimum wage," says a poster in New York City subways sponsored by Working Today, a nonprofit agency that offers health insurance to independent contractors in New York. "Welcome to middle-class poverty." In Southern California, 70,000 supermarket workers have been on strike for five weeks over plans to cut their health benefits. ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/16/national/16INSU.html

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