Out of Work and No Insurance: 147K New Jerseyans Lose Their Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance During COVID-19 Crisis

As the number of positive coronavirus cases continues to rise each day, more and more Americans are finding themselves out of work.  With health experts saying the peek of the virus has yet to occur, Americans are scrambling to make ends meet.  Whether it’s paying rent, putting food on their tables or meeting their mortgage payments, we are all in unchartered waters.

As we continue to follow the guidelines set down by health experts and our elected officials, and to try and lower the curve as quickly as possible, the fact remains, many of us are out of work and struggling for income.

But there’s another concern many Americans are facing during this pandemic.  They have lost their employer-sponsored, health insurance.

A new report just published by the Economic Policy Institute is estimating that over 147,000 New Jerseyans and their dependents have lost their health coverage in just the last two weeks.  That represents nearly 40 percent of the total of 361,000 Garden State residents who filed for unemployment since March 15.

The EPI report further states that an estimated 3.5 million American workers who had health insurance through their employer have lost coverage since the COVID-19 outbreak got worse.

The complete report by the Economic Policy Institute may be viewed by visiting their website, www.epi.org .