Layoffs and rising health-care costs helped add 1.4 million Americans
to the ranks of the uninsured last year, to a record total of 45
million people. It was the third annual increase in a row, according to
data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau. Since 2000, the
number of people without health insurance has increased by 5.2 million
With 15.6 percent of the population now without health coverage -- the
highest percentage since 1998 -- the problems of the uninsured could
further raise the profile of health care as an issue in the tight
presidential race. Both Democratic candidate John Kerry and Republican
incumbent George Bush have proposed measures to cut health-care costs
and insure more people. [more ]
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