Copyright 1999 Denver Publishing Company
DENVER
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
February 10, 1999, Wednesday
SECTION: Local; Ed. FINAL; Pg. 16A
LENGTH: 210 words
HEADLINE:
THOUSANDS OF WORKING PARENTS LACK HEALTH COVERAGE, DATA SHOW
BYLINE: Tillie Fong, News Staff Writer
BODY:
A national study shows that more than 40
percent of Colorado's low- income working parents are
uninsured.
''It's going to get worse as more people
come off welfare and get jobs,'' said Buffy Boesen, director of the All Families
Deserve a Chance Coalition, a project of Catholic Charities. The study, titled
''Employed but Not Insured,'' was released Tuesday by the Washington, D.C.-
based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Between 1995 and 1997,
Colorado had 181,000 working parents who were earning below
$27,300 for a family of three, the data show.
Of that
number, 45,000 or 31.1 percent, did not have health insurance.
When the
income level drops to $13,650 for a family of three, 42.4
percent did not have insurance.
Patti Powers, 31, of Denver, who is a
member of All Families Deserve a Chance Coalition, knows first hand the
pressures.
She is a single parent of four, but has no health insurance,
even though she works part time as a teacher's aide.
''I am not insured
because I can't afford the premium,'' she said. ''My four kids are on Medicaid
because my income is low enough. But I can never get sick or anything.''
She
says she earns about $10,000 a year, but it's not enough for
her to be insured.
LOAD-DATE: February 11, 1999
