Executive Summary: This morning, the U.S. Bureau of the Census released the alarming news that the number of uninsured Americans hit 46.3 million in 2008, up from 45.7 million in 2007. This increase of 0.6 million uninsured would have been much worse without a growth in government-provided health insurance that covered 4.4 million people, including an increase of 3.0 million covered under Medicaid. In contrast, employment-based coverage declined by about 1.1 million individuals, from 177.4 million in 2007 to 176.3 million in 2008. more.