Examining the Health Consequences of the 2008–09 Recession – The Rapid Health Policy Response Project of the School of Public Health and Health Services at The George Washington University, January 2009.

“Unemployment jumped to 7.2 percent in December, with 1.9 million jobs lost in the last four months of 2008. Given the established links between employment, higher family income, and better health, the current recession may have grave consequences for Americans’ health and health care. Research shows that:

• For every one percent rise in joblessness about one million more people join the ranks of the uninsured, a population that has “poorer health and shortened lives,” according to the Institute of Medicine.
• As unemployment rises, budget-strapped states face heightened demands for publicly funded health care and other services, but have diminished resources to pay for them.
• Food insecurity and a family’s inability to pay energy costs, which are both related to unemployment and poverty, are associated with poor health outcomes among children.
  This paper explores these and other potential health consequences of the current recession. It also reviews opportunities to provide new safeguards against impoverishment, diminished health, and reduced access to health care that are currently being considered as part of federal efforts to stimulate an economic recovery.”