A new report on health insurance released Wednesday showed that 86.7 million people – roughly a third of Americans below the age of 65 – went without coverage at some point during the past two years. The report from the advocacy group Families USA suggests coverage is more limited that government statistics suggest. The report assessed how many people under age 65 went without either public or private health insurance for some or all of the two-year period covering 2007 and 2008. People 65 and older are covered by the government's Medicare program, Reuters reported. Of 262 million Americans under 65, 33 percent were uninsured at some point during those two years, the report found. The figure included 60.1 million adults and 26.6 million children and teens up to age 18. Of those in that category, 75 percent went without insurance for at least six months and 60 percent for at least nine months, according to the report based on survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The study found that slight more than half of individuals and families with incomes between the official poverty line and twice the poverty line – $21,200 to $42,400 of annual income for a family of four – were uninsured at some point during 2007 and 2008. Government figures put the number of uninsured at 45.7 million in 2007, but the figure only counts those who had no coverage for the entire year. The White House on Thursday is set to host a healthcare summit with lawmakers, health insurers and groups ranging from the drug industry to employers, Reuters said.
