Farmer? Fisherman? You Probably Don’t Have Health Insurance
Health insurance rates vary widely across industries, race and income, a new study shows.
By Jeremy Smerd Comments 0 | Recommend 0
Outdoor Uninsured: If you work in agriculture, forestry, fishing or mining, you
are more likely to go without health insurance than are workers in service and
wholesale industries, according to a report released last month by the Employee
Benefit Research Institute in Washington. Much of the information confirms what
prior studies have shown: Income, company size, hours worked and race all
contribute to whether a person has health insurance. White employees working
full time for a large employer and making $75,000 or more are most likely to
have health insurance. In 2006, one-third of uninsured families made less than
$20,000, while 7.1 percent of uninsured workers made $75,000 or more. The
percentage of uninsured workers was highest among Hispanic employees, at 36
percent. Among blacks, 21.8 percent were uninsured, while that number fell to
12.8 percent for white workers, according to the study. Thirty-six percent of
the uninsured are farmers, fishermen and construction workers, compared with
22.8 percent in the service industry and 15.1 percent in manufacturing.
Jeremy Smerd is a Workforce Management staff writer based in New York. E-mail editors@workforce.com to comment.
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