America’s middle class suffered big losses in health insurance coverage between 2000 and 2008, with coverage to 3 million people in the group disappearing, a new report indicates.

The report, from the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, indicates that middle-income earners who obtained health coverage from their employers fell by 3 million people during those years. Exactly 66% of people in families with annual earnings of $45,000 to $85,000 obtained coverage from their employer, a decline of 7%.

In all, 12.9 million of the 43.4 million people who were uninsured in the U.S. in 2008 were in the middle class, an increase of 2 million from 2000.

The report also showed that the percentage of people nationally who worked for firms that did not offer insurance increased to 12% in 2008. The number of workers who were ineligible for employer-sponsored insurance—even though their employer offered it—was 22% in 2008, meaning more than one-in-five people who worked in firms that offer health insurance weren’t eligible for the benefit.

Also, the national average cost an employee paid for a family insurance policy rose 81% from 2000 to 2008, according to the report, which indicated that during the same period, median household income fell 2.5% when adjusted for inflation.

The report was issued before Congress took final action on a comprehensive health care reform measure designed to decrease the number of people who lack health insurance, and increase employers and employees’ ability to obtain and maintain coverage.

Americans ‘squeezed’ by rising costs

Risa Lavizzo-Mourey

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report indicates that about half of the decline in employer-sponsored coverage was offset by government insurance programs, including Medicaid.

The foundation made clear that in stopping at 2008, the last year for which U.S. Census data was available, the data fails to account for recession-related cuts in employment for businesses, which has significantly increased the number of people lacking employer-sponsored coverage in all income brackets.

“America’s uninsured crisis means that hard-working people with average incomes are being squeezed,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, in a statement. “The fallout from rising health insurance costs hits everyone. Employers must choose between either passing on costs to workers who cannot afford the increase and therefore drop coverage, or paying more for their employees’ coverage at the cost of creating and preserving jobs.”

The report provided state-by-state numbers on the increase in uninsured through 2008.

Among all income levels of people between the ages of 0 and 64, Maryland saw an increase in uninsured from 2000 to 2008 of 3.8%, with 14.2% lacking coverage in 2008. (The average increase was 1.7% nationally, to 16.7% of people under age 65.)

In Virginia, the increase was 2.6%, to 14.5% of its population under the age of 65. In New Jersey, the increase was 2.3%, to 14.6% of those under age 65. In Delaware, the increase was 1.8%, to 11.7%. New York’s uninsured was down 2.1%, to 14.6% of people under age 65.

Nationally, the biggest increase was in Tennessee, where the uninsured ballooned 6.4%, to 16.4% of its under-65 residents, while the biggest decrease was in Washington, D.C., where it had a 5.6% decline, to 10.2% of its under-65 population.

The report also identified states with high numbers of uninsured residents below age 65 in 2008, including California (20.2%), Florida (23.9%), Louisiana (21.4%), Mississippi (21.2%), New Mexico (25.5%) and Texas (27.2%).

The lowest numbers were in Massachusetts (5.1%), Minnesota (9.1%), Wisconsin (9.4%) and Connecticut (9.8%).