New Census data: 46.3 million uninsured

A new number is already making the rounds in the health care debate: Roughly 46.3 million Americans were without health insurance last year -- up by about one million since 2007, according to the latest Census Bureau study.

The data, released Thursday, mean a little more than 15 percent of Americans do not have access to health care coverage, the Census Bureau calculated. However, last year's estimate does not surpass the peak year -- 2006 -- when the number of uninsured Americans topped 47 million.

Thursday's announcement is sure to fire up both sides of the health care fight only a day after President Barack Obama addressed Congress on the need for health care reform. On Thursday, he touted the new numbers as further evidence that Congress should pass the plan he outlined Wednesday night.

"Few people understand as well as you why today's health-care system so badly needs reform," the president told the American Nurses Association. "If there are real concerns about any aspect of my plan, let's address them. If there are real differences, let's resolve them ... But we have talked this issue to death, year after year, decade after decade and the time for talk is winding down."

But interestingly enough, Obama's speech before a joint session of Congress did not include the newest Census figures. Instead, Obama stated "more than 30 million" Americans were uninsured -- a far cry from even the 2007 data, which depict more than 45 million Americans without coverage.