Rising unemployment is leaving millions more Americans without health insurance, creating challenges for those seeking to stabilize coverage and shore up the nation’s health safety net.

In this Perspective article, published March 26 in the New England Journal of Medicine, Diane Rowland, executive vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation and executive director of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, examines the ongoing recession’s impact on health coverage and state Medicaid programs, which face growing demand and enrollment at the same time that states are confronting severe budget crises.

Despite the recent federal approval of $87 billion in extra help for state Medicaid efforts, many people who have lost their jobs and health coverage will remain ineligible and uninsured.

 Journal Article (free access)