Friday, December 02, 2005
Part Time Employees Lack Health Insurance
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According to a study released yesterday, four of every five part
time workers in the United States lack employer sponsored health
insurance.
By comparison, about one of every four full-time employees
is without such insurance, according to the study conducted by the Iowa
Policy Project, a nonprofit public policy research group in Mt. Vernon,
Iowa.
The study analyzed insurance coverage for ``nonstandard'' employees,
such as part-time, temporary or contract workers. About 34.3 million
Americans, or 25 percent of the nation's workforce, fall into that
category, according to the study.
The research ``demonstrates the weakness in our health insurance
system'' for a ``vulnerable group of workers,'' said Sara Collins, a
senior program officer with the Commonwealth Fund, a New York nonprofit
group that financed the research.
The study, based on 2001 census data and telephone surveys by the
researchers in 2003 and 2004, found 21 percent of nonstandard employees
had health insurance through their jobs, compared with 74 percent of
full-time workers.
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