As the findings of a recent study conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau revealed, the number of Americans without health insurance decreased in 2007 for the very first time since President Bush took office. The study showed that 45.7 million Americans lacked health insurance.

The number dropped with 1.3 million (15.3% from 15.8%) compared to the 12.3 percent of 2006. The decrease in the number of people without health insurance was attributed to the programmes of government-sponsored health insurance, such as Medicaid, or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. The number of Americans on Medicaid, the government-backed health insurance for people with a low income, rose from 38.3 million to 39.6 million.

At the same time, according to the Institute of Medicine, 18,000 American residents die each year from lack of access to health care. But many people have health insurance that doesn’t protect them against the devastating medical bills. The private health insurance has become more and more expensive and other reports showed that as the health care costs continue to grow, fewer employees are able to offer insurance benefits.

Both democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and adversary John McCain have reform plans to improve the system. The goal of the two candidates for the upcoming presidential elections is to look for ways to advance health care reform. While the Obama health care plan is focused on reducing the number of uninsured Americans by 18 million in 2009 and 34 million by 2018, McCain plans to go forward with his plan to reduce the number of uninsured by 1 million in 2009 and by 5 million in 2013.

On the other hand the Census Report showed the number of children lacking health insurance went from 8.7 million lower to 8.1 million. U.S. residents with public insurance rose by almost 1 million to 23 million, the census said.

But private health insurance is far from being efficient. It constitutes an expensive bureaucracy that stands between patients and doctors.

Others reports found the proportion of insurance premiums that workers pay for family coverage has remained constant over the years, but the dollar amount that workers contribute has increased. Some 160 million Americans depend on this kind of coverage. The average cost of family coverage jumped almost $2,500 across the nation, from $8,281 in 2001 to $10,728 in 2005. Even if the report shows that uninsured rates are down, the employment-linked insurance coverage is going down: in 2006, it covered 59.7% of the population, while in 2007, it covered only 59.3%.

“This means we need a comprehensive solution to deal with our fragmented health care delivery system and some guarantee that everyone can get coverage that is it supportable,” health care economist Karen Davis, PhD, president of The Commonwealth Fund told WebMD.

A recent study published in the Aug. 5 edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine found that one out of every three uninsured Americans has a chronic illness and isn’t receiving the required medical treatment. A lot of people are suffering from at least one chronic illness and have no insurance to pay for medical care. Many health complications can occur to these people. Many of them might face early disability and even death, the study’s authors said.