Aug
21
2007
What State is Home to the Highest Number of Uninsured?
Author: Valeria WeberTexas isn’t just big in land mass, it’s also the state that claims the highest number of residents without health insurance.
According to Austin-based health care think tank Texas Health Institute, about 25 percent of Texans or 5.6 million people are not currently covered by health insurance. Of these, 72 percent live in households where at least one member of the family is employed full-time. Additionally, 40 percent of those uninsured families have an annual income of at least $40,000 if not more.
So who employs these uninsured yet gainfully-employed uninsured family members? Small businesses, mostly. But are these uninsured families one of the costs of a growing economy?
The Institute says ‘no.’ In fact, they estimate that if the number of Texas’ uninsured had been chopped in half last year, the state’s economy would have enjoyed a boost of more than $9 billion, 90,000 new jobs and an additional $3.2 billion in income for employees and employers across the state.
So what’s stopping them? Well, a number of things according to the Institute: high premiums, inaccessible insurance and a belief among young people that health insurance is an unnecessary expense.
August 21st, 2007 at 4:00 pm
I know this is primarily a life and health blog but I am an agent from Wisconsin. I was visiting Illinois for the weekend and was stopped at a State Police checkpoint where they checked for Insurance and Registration (and im sure for drinking and seatbelts). In Illinois Auto insurance is manditory you will recieve a fine if found to be without it. Of course Wisconsin agents dream of this but It is also interesting that we have more Voulentary insurance holders than Illinois. So mandates may only serve to increase police and judiciary workload.
Not exactly on topic but thought it was interesting – I enjoy your blog.
August 21st, 2007 at 9:40 pm
Young people\’s beliefs about not needing insurance are certainly part of the issue, but that goes hand in hand with a bunch of things that people tend to think when they are young and… well, I don\’t want to say \”dumb,\” but maybe \”bulletproof\” will suffice?
The fact that cutting the numbers of uninsured in half would lead to such a substantial boon to the economy is surprising to me! Dang, if I were in charge in Texas, I\’d certainly look at doing something to try to make that happen…
Jerry
http://www.leads4insurance.com