1 Trends in Health Insurance Coverage in US Worker Groups: The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) OBJECTIVES/BACKGROUND  Many American workers and their families obtain medical insurance through their employers or unions  Rising costs for health care and health insurance and global economic competition pressure industry and unions to enact cost-cutting policies  Therefore, many US workers and their families may be increasingly without health insurance  This study examined trends in the prevalence of health insurance coverage in US worker groups Arheart K, Lee D, Fleming LE, Chung-Bridges K, Christ SL, LeBlanc W, Caban A, Pitman T Dept Epidemiology & Public Health (University of Miami Miller School of Medicine), Odum Research Institute (UNC Chapel Hill, NC)

2 Methods  Data were from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)  Reported medical insurance prevalence among current US workers was tabulated by occupation and further stratified by gender, race, and ethnicity  Prevalence estimates were weighted to represent the US workforce  Weighted linear regression was used to compute the estimates of annual change in prevalence (slope)

3 Results  123,052,357 US workers annually from  84% annual prevalence of medical insurance among all US workers  19,212,411 workers had no health insurance  455,294 more workers had no health insurance each year  12 (92%) occupational categories had downward trends  White collar and unionized occupations had higher annual prevalence and lower annual decrease  Non-unionized blue collar worker occupations had lower prevalence and higher annual decrease  Prevalence of medical insurance varies among strata defined by gender, race, and ethnicity

4 Results

5 Conclusion/Recommendations  Medical insurance and access to medical care are significant factors in the health of US workers and their families  Inadequate medical insurance coverage and lack of access to medical care (especially preventive care) can lead to higher rates of acute and chronic disease  Decreased access to medical insurance is concentrated in low- wage subpopulations of the US workforce, particularly among Hispanic workers  Fewer workers with medical insurance has negative impact on the health of these workers and their families and on the ultimate cost of their medical care that must be born by the US society Thank you / Questions?