(HealthNewsDigest.com) – WASHINGTON, April 29, 2017 – Profile America — Saturday, April 29th. Health insurance and its affordability has been a topic of political contention mostly in the past two decades, but the social need was recognized much earlier. On this date in 1942, Rhode Island became the first state to set up a health or temporary disability insurance program for its working citizens unemployed because of sickness. Most Americans are without disability insurance, although Social Security provides some coverage to qualified workers. But health insurance is another matter. In 2014, over 208 million private policies were in force, with 170 million based on employment. Over 36 million Americans remained uninsured. You can find current data on the country’s economy by downloading the ‘America’s Economy’ mobile application at www.census.gov/mobile.
Sources:
Kane’s Famous First Facts, 4539
Disability insurance/accessed 2/3/2017: www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2015/
Social Security Disability Insurance/accessed 2/3/2017: www.ssa.gov/news/press/
Health insurance 2014/American Community Survey: factfinder.census.gov/faces/
Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotion of the U.S. Census Bureau. Statistics and accounts drawn from cited non-Census sources are employed for illustrative or narrative purposes, and are not attested to by the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for “Audio” in the “Library” pull-down menu).
SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau