Specter of many Long Islanders lacking health insurance

w@newsday.com

Nearly 14 percent of Long Islanders younger than 65 lack health insurance, according to 2007 Census Bureau estimates released Tuesday, but experts were quick to point out that the picture may be bleaker, as the data do not reflect the last few years of economic hardship.

The "data about the percentage of uninsured Long Islanders predate the economic collapse of 2008 and the recession, which has lasted to this day," Arthur A. Gianelli, president and chief executive of NuHealth System, which includes Nassau University Medical Center, A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility and four family health centers, said in a statement.

"Therefore, one can only assume that many more Long Islanders are uninsured today than were in 2007," he added.

According to the data, an estimated 344,525 Long Islanders, or 13.7 percent - 163,469 in Nassau County and 181,056 in Suffolk County - did not have health insurance in 2007. The bureau also estimated that 15.2 percent of New York State residents did not have health insurance that year.

The bureau estimated 15.3 percent of the national population was uninsured in 2007, said Robert Bernstein, a bureau spokesman.

The latest Long Island estimate is about 1 percentage point below the 2006 level, but Bernstein said the change was within the 1.2 percent margin of error and therefore not statistically significant.

The estimates are the only source of information about health insurance coverage for all 3,140 counties in the nation, Bernstein said.

The bureau plans to release more up-to-date health insurance coverage estimates in September, based on the 2009 American Community Survey, which will provide information only on counties with populations of 65,000 or more.

Other health officials concurred with Gianelli's assessment, and Bernstein acknowledged the estimates are largely "pre-recession."

"We know, based on all sorts of media reports, that the unemployment rate has significantly increased since 2007," said Kevin Dahill, president and chief executive of the Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council Inc., which represents 24 hospitals, noting the connection between job loss and loss of health benefits.

"I would be very surprised if this number [of uninsured] doesn't increase in their report next year," he said.

Gwen O'Shea, president and chief executive of the Health and Welfare Council of Long Island, said the economic downturn led the state to expand eligibility for some public health programs, such as Child Health Plus, "to make sure every child had access to health care," even as parents lost jobs or health coverage.

"The flip side," said O'Shea, was because of the rising cost of premiums and copayments, "people may not be utilizing coverage because they can't afford it."