Who cares for the care givers? Lack of health insurance among health and insurance personnel
D. U. Himmelstein and S. Woolhandler
Public Citizen Health Research Group, Washington, DC.
OBJECTIVE.--To analyze the health insurance status of physicians, other
health personnel, and insurance industry personnel. DESIGN.--The study was
based on data collected by the US Bureau of the Census in the March 1991
Current Population Survey for six groups of workers in health care
occupations and three classifications of insurance employees. This survey
included 6182 civilian health personnel and 1498 insurance workers under
the age of 65 years. RESULTS.--Of civilian health personnel under the age
of 65 years, 9% (90% confidence interval [CI], 8.2% to 9.8%) are uninsured,
equivalent to 834,000 persons, including 15,000 (90% CI, 5000 to 25,000)
physicians. Among insurance workers, 5.1% (90% CI, 3.9% to 6.2%) are
uninsured. While 6% (90% CI, 4.2% to 7.9%) of those working in physicians'
offices are uninsured, 52.2% (90% CI, 48.2% to 56.3%) receive no employer
contribution toward their coverage. More than a fifth of nursing home
employees lack insurance coverage, as do nearly a quarter of the 1.868
million health care workers with annual incomes less than $10,000.
CONCLUSION.--Nearly a million health care and insurance workers are
themselves uninsured and at high risk for being unable to obtain needed
care.
