The economic and unemployment crises appear to be taking their toll on the traditional ways Americans obtain health insurance.  Gallup’s latest health insurance poll shows a new low in November: just 44.8 percent of Americans report receiving health-care benefits through an employer.  This figure is down from 50 percent in January 2008, when Gallup first began tracking it.  While the percentage of Americans with employer-based health care continues its steady decline, the percentage of Americans with government-based health care, such as Medicare, Medicaid, or military/veterans’ benefits, remains elevated at 26 percent.  At the time of the poll, nearly one in six Americans report having no health insurance—a figure which rose sharply in late 2008 and has remained high.

These figures arrive amidst continuing turmoil around ObamaCare, which, in part, would require all Americans to buy health insurance starting in 2014.  A Virginia U.S. District Court judge recently ruled this portion of the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional, which makes the future of American health care even more uncertain.  A major goal of ObamaCare is to decrease the number of people without health coverage, even if those people have to purchase insurance on their own.

So far, the percentage of uninsured Americans is elevated but holding steady.  Instead, while employers are steadily eliminating health-care benefits, government-based programs are picking up new candidates in baby boomers eligible for Medicare and in unemployed workers relying on Medicaid.