One Quarter

Nearly 2 million Californians lost their health insurance during 2008 and 2009 — years characterized by a deep recession and mass layoffs — bringing the total number of uninsured in the state to more than 8 million, according to new estimates from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

The number represents a 28 percent increase in the number of uninsured since 2007, when 6.4 million Californians lacked insurance, according to the authors of the new policy brief, Number of Uninsured Jumped to More Than Eight Million from 2007 to 2009. Today, nearly one-quarter of all adult Californians lack health insurance.