Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

State Efforts To Expand Health Coverage: One Bite At A Time, Christopher Stream

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications

For more than twenty years, health scholars and advocates have warned us about the lack of adequate health coverage among a growing number of Americans. Health insurance premiums are rising. Many employers, especially small employers who employ over half of the country’s workforce, and individuals are seeing premium increases of 30, 40, and even 50 percent. Not surprisingly, America’s uninsured population is rising— to more than 41 million people. States are feeling the budget crunch as the economy sags and more and more people turn to state Medicaid and other public health care systems. This all means that state policy …