By now, we are all aware of some of the negative effects the “Great Recession” has had on Americans, but an analysis by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research reveals that middle-aged Californians have disproportionately lost their jobs and health benefits during the economic downturn. The analysis found the greatest increase of those among the 700,000 Californians that lost health insurance between 2007 and 2009, were between the ages of 45 and 64.
The analysis used data from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), and the California Employment Development Department to create a “recession index” dividing the 58 state counties into four categories gauging the impact of the recession as low, moderate, medium and high.
The “high impact” category actually saw a 1 percent decline in overall uninsured, due largely to social safety net programs including Medi-Cal and Healthy Families. Wealthy Californians in the “low impact” category saw a modest 1.7 percent increase in the uninsured. The “medium impact” counties, however, had a sizeable 5.4 percent increase in uninsured persons. This group represents those who did not qualify for safety net program but could not afford private health insurance.
An unrelated Pew Research analysis called “The Sandwich Generation” uncovers important national information relating to the baby boomer population citing that “nearly half (47%) of adults in their 40s and 50s have a parent age 65 or older,” and “about one-in-seven middle-aged adults (15%) is providing financial support to both an aging parent and a child.”
In many cases, the difficulty of obtaining quality health care for all three generations falls to the unemployed and uninsured middle-aged adults. The UCLA analysis also finds that between 2007 and 2009, the uninsured population in California became older and poorer, thus compounding the problem. The implementation of the Affordable Care Act and expansion of other state and federal safety net programs “may help a larger number of people than was initially anticipated,” according to the authors of the UCLA analysis.
