Total number of U.S. residents without health policies went down to 45.7 million, the first time in six years the number decreased. Census officials explained the increase in number of health policy holders was because of more government support for health insurance programs, with a focus on children.
The higher federal support offset the decline in number of Americans covered by private insurance firms.
The Census data also showed that the U.S. poverty rate was unchanged at 12.5 percent, while median household income actually went up 1.3 percent to $50,233. It was the third straight year that an increase in median household income was recorded.
However, Jared Bernstein, senior economist of the Economic Policy Institute, pointed out the statistics covered a period prior to the subprime mortgage crisis and the economic slowdown which hit the U.S.
"The data in this report refer to last year, when everything was different... This year, we're losing jobs on a monthly basis, inflation is running well over 5 percent, and unemployment was last seen at 5.7 percent and rising," Bernstein said, quoted by the New York Times.
The shift of insurance cover from private companies to state-sponsored policies is a result of insurance premiums offered by private insurance firms increasing faster than salaries and inflation, said Diane Rowland, executive vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Twenty-six states expanded last year the eligibility for Medicaid making it possible for families in Oklahoma and Louisiana to include children from families earning $44,000 for a family of three. The two states initially pegged the coverage to 300 percent of poverty level, but lowered it in August 2007 to followed a federal order limiting the expansion to 250 percent.
