WASHINGTON — Fifty million; 50.7 million to be precise.

If there is a magic number that will turn the tide of public opinion now arrayed against President Barack Obama’s health care legislation, could the latest dismal report on Americans without health insurance coverage be it?

In a border report on poverty, the Census Bureau announced today that the ranks of uninsured people reached an all-time high, rising from 46.3 million in 2008 to 50.7 million in 2009, or 16.7 percent from 15.4 percent the year before.

The increase was expected, given the economic downturn. It tracks with high jobless rates that have stayed stubbornly stuck at just under 10 percent and the fact that most Americans get their insurance through work. According to the annual report:

* The number of people with private health insurance dropped from 201 million to 194.5 million, while the number covered under government programs — Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP — climbed from 87.4 million to 93.2 million.
* The percentage of people with private coverage, 63.9 percent, is the lowest since 1987, the first year the bureau collected health insurance data. The percentage covered by government programs, 30.6 percent, is the […]