About 500,000 Californians have lost health insurance during recession

About 500,000 working-age Californians have lost their health insurance since the economic recession began in November 2007, according to a report the University of California-Berkeley's Center for Labor Research and Education released Wednesday, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The report analyzed research from the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured and data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey.

The report predicts that by 2012, the number of uninsured working-age adults in California will increase by 1.4%, or by 600,000 people, even if employment rates return to pre-recession levels. According to the state Employment Development Department, California's unemployment rate is 10.5%. In addition, the report estimates that the number of working Californians without employer-sponsored health insurance coverage will increase by 2.5% if health care reform is not approved and employer premium costs continue to increase by 7.5% annually.

"This recession has a bigger rate of underemployed than we have seen in previous recessions, meaning people are involuntarily working part time which can also lead to insurance loss," according to Ken Jacobs, chair of the Berkeley center and co-author of the report. He said, "It's possible the situation is far worse" (Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, 4/2).

The report is available online.