When it comes to health insurance things don’t look very good for Americans. According to a report released Tuesday by Families USA, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group for health-care consumers, more than one in four people under the age of 65 had no health insurance at some point between 2007 and 2008.

 

Moreover, of the uninsured group, about 1.6 million people, 70 percent had no insurance for more than six months. More than four out of five, or 84 percent, were in working families, working full or part time. Almost 54 percent of those individuals and families with incomes below twice the poverty line - $42,400 of annual income for a family of four in 2008 – went without health insurance at some point in 2007-2008.

 

The findings were based on data from the Census Bureau and the US Department of Health and Human Services.

 

Executive Director Ron Pollack said the findings call for urgent measures in health care system. “The number of people without coverage at this point is worse than an epidemic. At this point, almost everyone in the country has had a family member, neighbor, or friend who was uninsured, and that's why meaningful health care reform can no longer be kept on the back burner,” Pollack said.

 

“This really is a problem that’s driven largely by skyrocketing costs,” he added, mentioning that many businesses are dropping medical coverage for their employees due to rapidly increasing premium rates.