Losing jobs… and healthcare coverage

Layoffs continue for the 12th month in a row – as big employers like GM, Home Depot and Sprint-Nextel announce thousands of job cuts. New numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that all 50 states plus the District of Colombia are seeing unemployment rate growth compared to the previous month and the previous year.  The unemployment rate rose to 7.2 percent in December – that's up from 6.7 the previous month. The 7.2 percent is not all-inclusive of all workers who are truly out of a job: add up people who have giving up looking for work, those who are working part-time because they cannot find full time work, those who have left the workforce entirely, along with the so-called "total unemployed", then the figure nearly doubles, to 13.5 percent.

And as jobs continue to disappear, so does healthcare coverage. As Kellia Ramares reports, the unemployed are finding it hard to keep up with their health insurance premiums on limited unemployment benefits.

Click here for the full newscast for Tuesday, January 27, 2009