Amount of Uninsured Americans Varies Widely from State to State

One of the main goals of the recent health care legislation signed by President Obama is to help many who currently don’t have kind of health insurance coverage. While the general numbers of the uninsured are well known — around forty-seven million at this point — finer and more detailed information about the numbers of uninsured are just coming to light, thanks to the recent census. According to an article in The Washington Post entitled, “Census data reveal broad differences among states in rates of uninsured”, recent census data shows that the amount of uninsured individuals varies widely from one state to another.

For example, in Massachusetts, only about eight percent of people under sixty-five were uninsured, which is the lowest in the country. On the other end of the spectrum, we have Texas with about twenty-seven percent, followed by New Mexico with about twenty-six percent, followed by Florida with twenty-four percent of its residents. This data is from 2007, and doesn’t take into account how many lost their jobs with the economic collapse that took place a year later. Other notable states include California with twenty percent, New Jersey with sixteen percent and New York with fifteen percent.

Even when zoomed into to one geograpgic area, like the article does with the Washington D.C. area, there are still moderate variations between cities and counties. For example, the District had about twelve percent uninsured, while Maryland and Virginia were both around fifteen percent. It is hoped that the new legislation will help lessen these numbers significatly, but since it doesn’t take effect for four years, it’s hard to say right now.

The real question is…what do these results show us? In this writer’s opinion, I think it shows that states also need to take the initiative, as Massachusetts has done, to help people get health insurance. While federal laws helping the uninsured find health insurance, states also have a role here to help their residents find affordable health insurance. Maybe in four years more states will take more steps to help their residents find affordable health insurance.