Overview

Health security continues to be of major concern for millions of American working-age adults. Taking the pulse of health insurance and health care experiences, The Kaiser/Commonwealth 1997 National Survey of Health Insurance finds that one of three adults age 18 to 64, or 52 million people, were either uninsured or had been uninsured at some time during the past two years. The vast majority of these adults were in working families. Low- and modest-wage workers were particularly at risk: despite work efforts, these families were at high risk of being uninsured and of having little protection for access to health care when needed or being able to pay medical bills.

The 1997 National Survey of Health Insurance was a result of a joint effort of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and The Commonwealth Fund to assess Americans' health insurance experiences in today's economy. Conducted by Louis Harris and Associates, the survey consisted of a mix of phone and in-person interviews with 4,001 adults over a five-month period, from November 1996 through March 1997. Survey questions focused on health insurance coverage and consequences for access to health care and financial burdens of being uninsured or unstably insured.

Citation