This feature highlights a selection of HCFO grantees that have recently appeared in the news. This month's featured grantees appear in articles about HMO enrollment declines, and the decline of employer-based health insurance.

September 2006

Katherine Swartz, Ph.S., professor of health policy and economics at the Harvard School of Public Health, was quoted in an August 31, 2006 article published on in the Washington Post that examined recent data from the Census Bureau. The article notes that "the share of people without medical insurance edged up from 15.6 percent in 2004 to 15.9 percent last year, bringing the number of uninsured to a record 46.6 million." Where many public health programs, such as Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, for poor children have expanded, it is the middle-class workers who are increasingly uninsured. Swartz notes that "among workers ages 25-34 who earn the median income or more, the proportion of those without insurance stands at 26 percent, twice what it was in 1979."  

Stephen Parente, Ph.D., assistant professor of finance at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, was quoted in a August 25, 2006 article published on the Minnesota Public Radio website that examined the decline in HMO enrollment. The article states that "HMO enrollment has been declining for years." Parente notes that "the risk with [loosening health insurance mandates for some employers] is that if there is any major downturn in the economy as there was in the beginning of the 90s, you could see much less coverage from some of those employers."

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In the News Archives