Orange County Register: Have-nots hurting more

Friday, August 27, 2004
Have-nots hurting more
Working uninsured numbers grow in O.C., where some can't afford the coverage employers offer.

By NANCY LUNA, CATRINE JOHANSSON and JAMES KELLEHER
The Orange County Register

As health-care costs creep upward, more Orange County workers can call themselves the working uninsured: people who either can't afford the insurance plans their employers offer or aren't eligible for benefits.

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Contributing to the increase, experts say, are the high cost of health care, companies cutting back on benefits and the slow economy creating fewer and lower-paying jobs. "The uninsured aren't the people running across the border. They're your neighbors who are not able to take the deductions to pay for health insurance," said Fred Richmond, chief executive officer at the Coalition of Orange County Community Clinics.

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Experts say rising medical costs and a relentless push by companies to keep a lid on labor costs have contributed to the number of uninsured or underinsured. "If you have the funds for health-care coverage, you have to consider yourself pretty lucky these days," said Helena Epperson, with Marsh Risk and Insurance Services in Newport Beach.

While the nation's employers have added 1.4 million workers to their payrolls during the past year, analysts say many of the positions have been created in industries with low wages and few benefits. "It's the jobs we're creating," said E. Richard Brown, director of UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. "Increasingly, they don't provide health benefits."


More..

http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2004/08/27/sections/business/business/article_217628.php

line. Nice.