Uninsured rate lowest in Massachusetts

October 20, 2016|ObGyn

Massachusetts had the nation’s lowest uninsured rate in 2015, and Texas had the highest, according to the personal finance website WalletHub.

Massachusetts’ uninsured rate of 2.8% was followed by Vermont at 3.8%, Hawaii at 4%, Minnesota at 4.5%, and Iowa at 5%, WalletHub reported.

The other end of the scale offered more proof that everything is bigger in Texas: The state’s 17.1% of population without insurance was the country’s highest. Alaska was 49th with a rate of 14.9%, which was preceded by Oklahoma at 13.9%, Georgia at 13.6%, and Florida at 13.3%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau data used in the analysis.

Nevada, which was 44th overall in 2015, had the largest reduction (–10.3%) in its uninsured rate from 2010 to 2015. Oregon had the next-largest drop (10.1%) and Massachusetts had the smallest decrease at –1.6%, meaning that no state saw an increase over the 5-year period, the WalletHub report showed.

A quick run through some subgroups shows that Vermont had the lowest percentage of uninsured children (1%) and Alaska had the highest (10.6%), Massachusetts was lowest for whites (2.2%) and Hispanics (5.3%) while Mississippi was highest (10.9% white and 37.6% Hispanic). Hawaii had the lowest rate (3.8%) for blacks, and Montana had the highest (17.4%), WalletHub said.

rfranki@frontlinemedcom.com