By Tara Mancini
Today, the US Census Bureau released a nice surprise for health policy advocates and researchers. The 2012 estimates for the Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE), the only source for single-year estimates of health insurance coverage in all US counties, were released five months earlier than the 2011 estimates.
SAHIE also allows researchers and advocates to consistently compare data going back to 2008. The 5-year look back provides excellent news for children, as the number of uninsured children (under 19) declined in 1,171 counties and rose in only 17. In contrast, the uninsured rate for adults (18-64) increased in 494 counties and decreased in 269 counties1.
Counties where the uninsured rate for children declined were largely clustered in the Northwest (Oregon and Washington), Colorado, New Mexico, western Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. There weren’t many large clusters of counties where the uninsured rate dropped for adults, but the few that stand out are in New Hampshire and West Texas.
Despite the progress made, there is room for improvement even in the counties that experienced significant declines among the uninsured. In 2012, large swaths of the South and West have counties where the uninsured rate for adults is still above 25%. Again, counties with the highest rates (above 40%) of uninsured adults at or below 138% FPL are also concentrated in the South and West. Unfortunately, many of these states have failed to accept federal funds to extend Medicaid to this population (Idaho, Florida, Louisiana, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Texas).
Although open enrollment is almost over, these data can be useful in targeting outreach and enrollment efforts.
Note: It can be hard to view small counties when looking at the entire map of the US. If you want to zero in on your own state, SAHIE also provides an easy-to-use mapping and data visualization tool. I used it to create the county snapshot below of uninsured adults under 139% FPL living in Florida.
