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Who Are the Uninsured?

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The Care of the Uninsured in America

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Abstract

The Andersons are a family of four. Jim Anderson is 35 years old and works for a local taxi company. The company offers health insurance only to full-time employees (minimum of 40 hours per week), but Jim could not afford the 40% employee premium contribution, so he decided not to purchase the company’s health insurance plan. Liz Anderson is 33 years old and works part time (20 hours per week) for a local gift shop that does not offer health insurance benefits to their employees. Jim and Liz have two children; Sally, 13 years old, and Bud, 10 years old. The Andersons are an uninsured family who are not eligible for the Medicaid program because their family income is too high. Although the children would be eligible for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, Jim and Liz decided not to enroll the children because of the costly monthly premiums.

The Andersons do not have a personal family physician, but use the local Community Health Center once in a while. Although the Community Health Center offers a sliding scale for the Andersons, they rarely use it unless there is an urgent health issue or something is required for work or school.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Community, Environment and Policy and Rural Health Office, University of Arizona, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Howard Eng

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  1. Howard Eng
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. St. Elizabeth of Hungary Clinic, N. Stewart Ave. 3255, Tucson, 85716, U.S.A.

    Nancy J. Johnson

  2. Arizona Health Science Center, N. Stewart Blvd. 3255, Tucson, 85716, U.S.A.

    Lane P. Johnson

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Eng, H. (2010). Who Are the Uninsured?. In: Johnson, N., Johnson, L. (eds) The Care of the Uninsured in America. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-78309-3_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-78309-3_1

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