Health | health care Roughly 1 in 4 Californians Are Uninsured Recession hammers state's already ugly numbers By Kevin Spak Posted Mar 16, 2010 12:47 PM CDT Copied Dr. Michael Lenoir, right, examines Dante Jones, 2, being held by his mother Daaiyah Shabazz in Lenoir's offices in Oakland , Calif., Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) Almost 1 in 4 Californians under age 65 didn’t have health insurance in 2009, as many lost their jobs and the employer-sponsored health care that came with them, says a new UCLA study. Among those over 18, the figure jumped to almost 1 in 3. California has one of the country’s highest uninsured rates, yet it’s considering cuts in a public insurance program for low-income children and their parents. “California's situation is pretty dire,” one of the UCLA researchers tells the Los Angeles Times. Researchers say they were surprised by how much the figures have grown since 2007. At the time, 6.4 million Californians were uninsured; now, 8.2 million are. The state's unemployment rate rose to 12.3% in December. Read These Next White House rolls with Trump's 'daddy' nickname. New Fox star, 23, misses first day after car troubles. Supreme Court ruling is a big blow to Planned Parenthood. Gavin Newsom has filed a massive lawsuit against Fox News. Report an error