According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics released last week, a record number of Americans are living without health insurance. While 44.8 million people were without coverage in 2005, about 47 million people lacked health insurance in 2006. Children under the age of 18 have been considerably affected; In 2006, 11.7 percent of children were without health insurance, up from 10.9 percent the previous year. A 2005 study found that rates of uninsurance among Hispanic and African American adults are one-and-a-half to three times as high as the rate for
white adults.
