12.6 million Americans fall off employer-based health insurance plans

Employer-based health insurance plans have been in decline in the U.S. for years.

About 12.6 million Americans have fallen off employer based plans since 2000, Reuters reports. This is a worrisome trend for the American public as employer-based plans are the main source of insurance coverage, with 169.3 million Americans covered in 2010.

About 1.5 million Americans fell off employer paid health care insurance plans in 2010 alone according to Census data. The good news is that the public sector has picked up the slack from the private sector a little bit: 1.8 million more joined government insurance plans in 2010.

The Census report also showed that just short of 50 million Americans remained uninsured, 1 million more than in 2009.

Air Canada employees rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, September 20, 2011.

Air Canada employees rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, September 20, 2011.

Part of the fightback: pictures from today's Globe & Mail of Flight Attendants protesting across the country today for a new collective agreement. A tentative agreement was achieved just hours after the protests. For more on the tentative agreement see the CUPE web site, by clicking here.

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