Ranks of Uninsured Grow; Poverty Rate Soars

Posted Sep 10, 2009 11:11 AM CDT
Ranks of Uninsured Grow; Poverty Rate Soars
Patients await their turn for medical care at the St. John's Well Child and Family Center, which oversees clinics that treat Los Angeles' poor and uninsured.   (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

The number of uninsured Americans rose to 46.3 million last year, up from 45.7 million in 2007, as the poverty rate hit an 11-year high, the Census Bureau announced today. The poverty rate was 13.2% for 2008, up from 12.5% in 2007, the largest annual jump since 2004. The White House says the figures underscore the need for health care reform and the importance of the stimulus, reports the Wall Street Journal. (More Obama administration stories.)

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