WASHINGTON -- The ranks of the uninsured swelled by 2.4 million last year as insurance costs continued rising and more Americans lost their jobs and health care coverage.
The number of people without health insurance the entire year rose to 43.6 million, a jump of almost 6 percent from 2001 and the second consecutive annual increase, the Census Bureau said today. The percentage of Americans without health coverage rose from 14.6 percent to 15.2 percent.
Michigan had 1.1 million residents without health insurance last year, an increase of 1.3 percent, or 120,000 people.
Reflecting the broad scope of the economic recession and its aftermath, significant increases in uninsured rates occurred among whites, blacks, people 18-to-64, and middle- and higher-income earners. Rates increased in all regions of the country except the West.
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