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More middle income families going without health insurance
As more Americans lose health coverage because of unemployment, the latest snapshot of the uninsured reveals a grim picture: It's not just the poor and unemployed who now go without health insurance.
About a third of California's uninsured had family incomes of more than $50,000 a year in 2009, according to the California HealthCare Foundation.
Indeed, the percentage of uninsured among families earning between $50,000 and $75,000 annually has nearly doubled over the past decade.
"It's exactly the trend that's been driving the conversation around health care reform," said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a consumer health advocacy group.
"As this has become a real crisis in the middle class, it required a bigger fix - which is why the big push for a federal health law," Wright said.