Fifteen percent of Virginia adults-- one million Virginians -- are uninsured.  The statistics on and demographics of these Uninsured Virginians are surprising, including the fact that most are employed. Get the facts about Uninsured Virginians , including the health impact of being uninsured.

The Virginia Health Care Foundation's Profile of the Uninsured reveals that even before the recession's onset, more than one in six Virginia adults was uninsured, as were nearly one in 10 Virginia children.  VHCF's comprehensive Profile of the Uninsured provides a clear picture of Virginia's uninsured, including demographic and employment information.

Dying for Coverage in Virginia, a 2008 report by Families USA, includes disturbing information about

insurance-related mortality.  The report includes estimates that as many as 10 working-age Virginians die each week because they lack health insurance -- most from diseases that could have been treated easily if caught early, and that, between 2000 and 2006, an estimated 3,200-plus Virginians aged 25-64 died because they did not have health insurance.

Virginia Performs provides data on a number of health-related (and other) measures, including Virginia

health insurance statistics.    The Virginia Performs website offers comparisons of health insurance statistics between regions within Virginia and against neighboring states.

Virginia ranks near the bottom, nationwide, in the number of uninsured children.  In addition, Virginia’s workers pay the greatest share of individual premiums in the nation.  Learn more by reading the Scorecard developed by Healthcare for All Virginians.

New Census Data Shows Growing Poverty in Virginia...More Virginians Live in Poverty, and the Number of Uninsured Grows, a report from The Commonwealth Institute  documents the rapid growth in the number of uninsured in Virginians.  Among the data presented is that almost 700,000 additional Virginia residents have become uninsured since 2000 and that the number and percentage of uninsured are expected to continue to rise in 2008 and 2009, as the effects of the current economic downturn are measured.

Rising Needs Swamp Area Clinics: This article, from Fredericksburg.com, reveals how Virginia's free health clinics have been overwhelmed as a result of the rising number of uninsured, forcing some to close their doors to new patients, cut back available slots, or inform new patients that they have to wait months for an appointment.

The Growing Divide: The State of Working Virginia, a report from The Commonwealth Institute, includes data on the insurance crisis building in Virginia.  Among the findings in the report are that only 57% of working Virginians obtain health insurance through their employer, down from 70 percent in 1979.

National Public Radio's All Things Considered explored the dramatic increase in demand at Virginia's free clinics in an in-depth profile aired in Spring 2009. It focused on the Augusta Regional Free Clinic in central Virginia, which experienced a 40 percent increase in new patients compared with a year ago.

According to the Centers for Disease control, nearly half of American adults have hypertension,

diabetes or high cholesterol. These findings indicate that a high percentage of the population has a condition associated with heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-sponsored 2010 State of the States details state-by-state trends in health care cost and coverage, Medicaid and CHIP, insurance reform and delivery system and payment reform.

The NewsHour presented an in-depth review of the growing number of uninsured in the U.S. and followed-up with information on how the economic stimulus package is benefitting Community Health Centers nationwide.

Rising Unemployment, Medicaid and the Uninsured:  New data, released January 2009, on how the

current and projected future rise in unemployment in the U.S. is affecting health care and health insurance needs for children and adults.  Among the data included are that, for every increase of 1 percentage point in the national unemployment rate, it is estimated that an additional 1 million Americans turn to Medicaid for coverage and another 1.1 million go uninsured.

Cover the Uninsured.org, an initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has a wealth of data

regarding uninsured Americans, including the fact that nearly 1 in 5 workers is uninsured.  For national level data, check out the Cover the Uninsured fact sheets.

Health Insurance Coverage in America:  This 2008 Kaiser Family Foundation report documents the increase in the number and percent of Americans who are uninsured as well as the decline in employer-sponsored health insurance.

Medicaid in a Crunch: A Mid-FY 2009 Update on State Medicaid Issues in a Recession:  This report from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, "relays the perspective of leading state Medicaid directors to describe the fiscal strain on Medicaid and other safety-net programs as enrollment swells and state tax revenues shrink, raising the prospect of program cutbacks. It draws on focused interviews with leading Medicaid directors in November 2008."

The Institute of Medicine Committee on the Consequences of Uninsurance revealed that working-age

Americans without health insurance are more likely to receive too little medical care and receive it too late, and to be sicker and die sooner.

The Uninsured: A Primer:  This comprehensive document reviews "the basic profile of the uninsured

population, how they receive care, the latest trends in health insurance coverage, and what the options are for increasing coverage."  It was prepared by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured and updated in October 2007. 

Sources of Health Insurance and Characteristics of the Uninsured: Analysis of the March 2008 Current Population Survey. "This annual report examines the status of health insurance coverage in the United States, providing historic data through 2007 on the number and percentage of nonelderly Americans with and without coverage. It discusses the trends in coverage and highlights characteristics of the uninsured." It was released in September 2008 by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.