Half the nation’s uninsured live in just 116 counties
By Reid Wilson, Updated: February 5 at 10:07 am - Washington Post
Those without health insurance have less than two months to enroll in new
plans before penalties kick in, and the Obama administration is racing the clock
to get them signed up.
A new study conducted for The Associated Press shows the administration is
best off focusing on a relatively narrow geographic area: Half of those under 65
without insurance live in just 116 of the nation’s 3,143 counties. And half of
all 19-39 year olds without insurance — the most coveted demographic as
health-care providers look to expand their risk pools — live in 108
counties.
Source: Associated Press
Thirteen heavily urban counties are home to 20 percent of the country’s
uninsured, according to the study, conducted by the State Health Access Data
Assistance Center at the University of Minnesota.
More than 2 million people without insurance — 5 percent of the national
total — live in Los Angeles County, the biggest pool of potential sign-ups,
while more than a million uninsured live in Harris County, Tex., home of
Houston. Nearly 30 percent of all Harris County residents are without insurance.
Hundreds of thousands without insurance live in Cook County, Ill., Miami-Dade
County, Fla., and Dallas County, Tex., the third, fourth and fifth-largest pools
of uninsured.
Federal officials are focusing on 25 metro areas, the AP said, including
Dallas, Houston, Miami, Atlanta, northern New Jersey, Philadelphia, Detroit,
Cleveland and Indianapolis. The feds are less concerned with cities like Los
Angeles and New York, where states are running their own health-care
exchanges.
The University of Minnesota Center’s data shows the lowest number of
uninsured Americans live in the Midwest and the Northeast, where many states
have expanded Medicaid to cover additional low-income residents under the
Affordable Care Act. But even before those expansions, the American Community
Survey showed low rates of those without insurance in the Dakotas, Minnesota,
Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont.
Percentage of Americans without health insurance by
county. Source: State Health Access Data Assistance Center at the University of
Minnesota
About 14.9 percent of Americans lack health insurance, according to the
center’s estimates. The percentage of Americans covered by public health
insurance plans jumped in 28 states between 2011 and 2012.