Broad, nonpartisan coalition hopes the Week prompts action on uninsured

A new study for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) found that Texas leads the nation in the percentage of uninsured adults—most of them employed—while Minnesota claims the lowest percentage, reports the Associated Press in a story that ran in many of the nation's newspapers or on their Web sites, including The New York Times and the Washington Post. The report "is aimed at a common misperception: that all working people have insurance through their jobs," reports USA Today. In fact, a "significant number" of these uninsured adults are employed, reports AP. In Texas, 30.7 percent of adults are uninsured, including 26.6 percent of working adults. In Minnesota, 8.3 percent of adults are uninsured, including 6.9 percent of working adults. "There is an old image that people who are uninsured don't work or are on public assistance," said Stuart Schear of RWJF. "That's never really been accurate and is completely inaccurate today." The study was based on 2003 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Other states with high percentages of uninsured are Louisiana, with 26.4 percent of all adults uninsured, including 22.6 percent of working adults, and New Mexico, with 26 percent of all adults uninsured, including 22.6 percent of working adults.