Just how many people have preexisting health conditions? About 1 in 5.

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The unabashedly pro-healthcare-overhaul organization FamiliesUSA recently offered a look at the number of people in the U.S. with diagnosed preexisting health conditions. Those people will be among the Americans most dramatically affected by the upcoming changes in the health insurance market. On Tuesday, the organization offered a look at California’s numbers.

The national report, Health Reform: Help for Americans with Pre-Existing Conditions, stated that 57.2 million non-elderly Americans have a condition that could jeopardize their ability to get insurance in the current insurance market. (‘Current,’ of course, won’t be ‘current’ for long.) That amounts to more than 1 out of 5 people younger than 65.

California’s numbers are similar, with almost 6.5 million non-elderly adults having a preexisting health condition. Again, that’s about 1 in 5. The report offers age, ethnic and income breakdowns.

If the numbers neither shock nor compel you, head over to the organization’s exploration of how the recent healthcare overhaul will affect the middle class, small businesses, the uninsured .... The information may not be overly reader friendly, but it is indeed thorough.

Here’s recent Times coverage of impending healthcare changes.

— Tami Dennis