September 7, 2006 - The percentage of Americans without health insurance in 2005 rose to 15.9 percent, 46.6 million people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The number of uninsured children also increased, for the first time since 1998, to 8.3 million.

Most people have health insurance through their job or that of a family member. However, the percent of people with employment-based coverage fell to less than 60 percent in 2005, a 6 percentage point drop since 1999.

The Institute of Medicine estimates that approximately 18,000 Americans die prematurely each year because they lack health insurance. This is just one of many consequences presented in a series of reports looking at uninsurance and its effects on individuals, families, communities, and society as a whole. The IOM recommends that by 2010 everyone in America should have health insurance, and in its report Insuring America's Health: Principles and Recommendations, it offers policymakers a set of guiding principles and a checklist to help them compare and judge proposals to extend coverage.

• Insuring America's Health: Principles and Recommendations (2004)
• Consequences of Uninsurance Project

• U.S. Census Press Release