Insurance coverage and income. Changes in insurance coverage
among workers closely follow the pattern of changes in the
ratio of health care expenditures per capita to the median wage.
(Exhibit 2). The expenditure-to-income ratio for the medianincome
worker increased from 4.5 percent in 1979 to 7.3 percent in
1995. This increase occurred because real health spending per capitarose by 60 percent during the time period, while real median income
hardly rose at all. The expenditure-over-median-income series
tracks closely the periods of rapid growth and stability in the coverage
series: When the series slowed its rapid growth during
1984–1987, insurance coverage was stable, and the slight decline in
the series during 1992–1995 was accompanied by a second period of
stability in coverage.