1.3 million in Mich. lacked health coverage in '08

WKAR Public Media

Published September 10, 2009 at 6:45 PM EDT

By AP

LANSING, MI – A new report says 1.3 million people in Michigan lacked health insurance last year.

The U.S. Census Bureau said Thursday 11.7% of state residents weren't covered through private companies or the government in 2008. That's up from 10.4% in 2007.

Things may be even worse now, because the figures don't include people who lost coverage as unemployment rose this year.

The Michigan League for Human Service says the report has good news and bad news for the state.

The increase of 1.3 percentage points in Michigan's uninsured rate was third-highest in the country, behind only Alaska and New Mexico.

But Michigan's percentage of uninsured residents was lower than the national rate of 15.4%.

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