(Cornell University Press: Ithaca, N.Y) -- An estimated 9.3 million American adults lost health insurance coverage as a result of increased unemployment during the recession of 2007–2009, according to a newly published study by researchers at Cornell, Indiana, and Carnegie Mellon universities.

The study, titled “The Impact of the Macroeconomy on Health Insurance Coverage: Evidence from the Great Recession,” was published online by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Authors are John Cawley, professor in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University; Kosali Simon, professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University; and Asako Moriya, a recent Ph.D. in economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. The paper can be viewed at www.nber.org/papers/w17600.

The study finds that roughly nine times as many Americans lost health insurance coverage in the recession of 2007–2009 as in the previous recession of 2001. It also estimates that 4.2 million children under the age of 18 gained health insurance coverage during the recession, supporting the idea that government health insurance programs work counter-cyclically, as intended as part of the social safety net. As parents lose jobs and income, more children qualify for coverage through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

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