95,500 more in Va. lose jobs, health insurance in 2009
Read the Families USA report PDF: "One-Two Punch: Unemployed and Uninsured"
About 95,500 more Virginians have lost both their jobs and their health insurance this year, according to Families USA, a nonprofit organization pushing for universal health coverage.
"That's why health-care reform is so important," Ron Pollack, executive director of the Washington-based group, said during a telephone briefing with reporters yesterday.
"It will protect American families when they lose or switch jobs," he said.
Virginia's unemployment rate averaged 4 percent in 2008 and 6.7 percent this year, the report said. It examined the effect of rising unemployment on health-insurance coverage in all 50 states.
The group's estimate of 95,500 newly uninsured in Virginia is based on a formula that correlates every percentage-point rise in unemployment with a 0.59-percentage-point rise in the rate of the uninsured.
Families USA said about 824,900 adults were uninsured in Virginia in 2008, a rate of 17.1 percent. For 2009, that rate of uninsured adults is projected to be 18.7 percent, representing about 920,400 people. The difference is the 95,500.
"Thousands of Virginians have lost jobs during the recession. It has left many uninsured," Jill Hanken, an attorney with the Virginia Poverty Law Center, said, citing big job losses in the Richmond area from the closing of companies including Circuit City, LandAmerica and Qimonda.
She said unemployment benefits in the state range from $54 a week for the lowest-wage workers to $378 a week -- not enough in most cases to cover health-insurance premiums. "Even the highest amount is below the national average," Hanken said.
The state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 6.5 percent in August, the fifth-lowest in the nation, compared with the national rate of 9.7 percent. Also, the number of Virginians receiving unemployment benefits was 92,000 in August 2009, compared with 44,000 in August 2008.
Contact Tammie Smith at (804) 649-6572 or
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Reader Reactions
revnhoj… in most cases you would be correct. But because Obama clearly considers himself The Almighty God of The Universe and Ruler of All He Surveys, you can take someone who calls him “Lord High Messiah Obama” seriously.
You can’t take the Lord High Messiah Obama seriously because he is losing his appeal due to his unfathomable ineptitude.
Agreed, nobody who says something like “Lord High Messiah Obama” could ever be taken seriously.
All the more reason to construct a new paradigm that divorces healthcare coverage from employment. Why must coverage be wed to having a job? Lose your job, lose your insurance. This makes absolutely no sense in 2009.
Interesting, we agree on checking multiple sources before forming an opinion on something and not listening to talk radio. I do watch some cable news from time to time, but so little of it is actual “news” these days, I’ve lost interest. I choose to decide for myself what to believe, based on the facts, not what a host with an agenda tells me.
And they didn’t manipulate the story, they were talking about a report that tied the uninsured to job loss. There’s no mention of an Obama health care plan anywhere in the story. No offense, but when comments on here start with something like “Lord High Messiah Obama,“ it’s hard to take the writer seriously, and I assume their statements will have a severe partisan slant.
Thank you for the lame attempt at twisting my words, grizzman. You should notice that I never used the term “liberal media.“ I merely pointed out that the article subtly includes the hot-button topic of losing health care into a report on job loss. While the two certainly are related, I state again that there is no concrete proof that every one of the people who lost these jobs had insurance in the first place, even with the numbers factored in by using that bizarre formula.
It’s just a way to manipulate the story a bit. Perhaps you should research the term “gatekeepers.“ For the record, I don’t watch television news at all, local, network or cable. I don’t listen to talk radio. (See “gatekeepers.“) I prefer to seek out the information myself. To make an informed opinion, one should investigate the topic from at least two opposing sources, preferably more. Only then can one glean information from both sides, weigh the issue based on that information, and form an opinion. Also, if you look over any of my posts, I never address my comments to “liberals,“ “democrats,“ or other monikers. I just state my opinions. And this article clearly is incorporating an agenda into a news story.
That’s funny, so you’re calling the RTD “The Liberal Media?“
Yeah, how dare they report on actual news. Sounds like you should stick with Fox news, they report your kind of “news” all day long.
I like the way this article casually incorporates a little plug for Lord High Messiah Obama’s health care plan. According to this, people are no longer losing their jobs. Now they’re losing health care too, although there is no concrete proof that every one of the people who lost these jobs had insurance in the first place, even with the numbers factored in by using that bizarre formula. Way to go RTD…you’ve moved up a few rows on the Obama Bandwagon.
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