Nearly 27 Million Have Lost Their Health Insurance

One of the biggest obstacles to government-provided insurance in the United States has been employer-provided insurance. About 61% of Americans get their health insurance through their employer, and they generally like the insurance they get that way. They are afraid of changing, because they believe a government plan might not be as good as their employer-provided plan.

That system is fine most of the time. But the recession we are now experiencing has revealed a huge flaw in employer-provided insurance -- when someone loses their job (fired, laid-off, etc.), they also lose their insurance.

Note the chart above (from the Kaiser Family Foundation). It shows that of the millions who have lost their jobs, about 26.8 million have also lost their health insurance (because it was provided by their employer, and they cannot afford to pay for it themselves without a job).

We already had millions who didn't have any health insurance (because Obamacare didn't cover everyone and many states have refused to expand Medicaid). The addition of another 26.8 million dramatically rises that percentage.

How many other developed countries have had people lose their health insurance due to this recession? NONE! They don't provide insurance through an employer (although employers do help pay for the insurance). Their insurance is provided through the government -- either through a government single-payer system, or private insurance subsidized by the government.

We can discuss how we want to do a government insurance program. It could be by vastly expanding Obamacare to help everyone get private insurance, or it could be a single-payer system (like Medicare-For-All). But one thing is clear. We must get away from employer-provided insurance, and move to a system where a person keeps their health insurance even after losing their job.

Health insurance is not a "privilege" only provided to those who can afford it, or a "benefit" given to workers by their employer. It is a RIGHT of every citizen.