Private insurance coverage continues to decline

The number of adult Americans with health insurance continued to decline last year, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The number of Americans of all ages who were uninsured at any point in the previous 12 months reached 60.3 million in 2010, a jump of nearly 2 million from 2009. Private health coverage declined, while public coverage rose, especially for children.

Of nonelderly adults, 61.1% had private coverage in 2010, a drop of 1.7%. The percentage of privately covered children fell by 1.9% to 53.8%. Fewer children overall lost coverage, however, because the percentage of children in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program rose to 39.8%.