Women ages 18 to 64 are increasingly uninsured, especially those who are younger and unmarried or have low incomes and are less educated, according to a report by the Commonwealth Fund Commission. These trends must be addressed with gender-based socio-economic outreach and marketing.
The rising lack of coverage is largely due to a decline in private individual and employer-based coverage.
The report is based on the Fund's 1993 and 1998 surveys of women's health and other national data. The survey highlights these disturbing trends:
- Lack of insurance coverage for women ages 18 to 64 increased to 18% in 1998 from 14% in 1993.
- The overall percentage of women covered by private insurance dipped to 72% in 1998 from 77% in 1993.
- For low-income women - those earning less than $15,000 per year - the private insurance rate dropped to 37% in 1998 from 44% in 1993.
(Commonwealth Fund, 212/606-3800)