45 Million Uninsured Americans

45 Million Uninsured Americans

by Jeanne Lambrew
August 26, 2004

Today, the Census Bureau reported that 45 million Americans lacked health insurance in 2003, up by 1.4 million from 2002 and 5.2 million from 2000. The report states that this increase is "statistically significant."

How large is 45 million?

45 million uninsured Americans is more than…

• All Americans age 65 and older (35.9 million)
• All African Americans (37.1 million)
• All Hispanic or Latino Americans (39.9 million)

45 million uninsured Americans is…

• 4 million more than the number of small business employees (41.0 million in 2001)
• 20 million more than the number of military veterans (25 million)
• Nearly 12 times more than the number of millionaires (3.8 million) — although the growth in millionaires outstripped that of the uninsured (14 percent versus 3 percent)

45 million uninsured Americans is…

• More than four times the population of Greece, site of the Summer Olympics (10.6 million)
• 12 million more than the population of Canada (32.2 million)
• Nearly 5 million more than the population of Spain (40.2 million)
• 20 million more than the population of Iraq (24.7 million)

45 million uninsured Americans is…

• Nearly five times more than the number of Americans living with cancer (9.2 million in 2001)
• 2.5 times higher than the number of Americans with diabetes (18.2 million in 2002)
• 7 million more people than those living with HIV throughout the world (38 million)

There are…

• Nearly 150 uninsured Americans for each physician in America
• Nearly 7,500 uninsured Americans for each hospital in America
• Over 84,000 uninsured Americans for each Member of Congress

45 million uninsured Americans is about the same number of Americans living in…

• West coast states (45.2 million in California, Oregon and Washington)
• Middle America (44.7 million in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wyoming)
• Northeastern states (42.0 million in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont)

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