29 percent of Texans uninsured
Reports: Estimated 659,000 adults not covered after layoffs
An estimated 659,000 adults in Texas lost health care coverage with their jobs between February and May as employers laid off workers in droves, according to new reports.
The uninsured rate in the state surged to 29 percent, meaning nearly one in three Texans under 65 are without health insurance, the highest rate in the nation, according to an analysis released Tuesday from Families USA, a consumer health advocacy nonprofit. Texas already boasted the highest rate of uninsured residents before COVID-19, with approximately 18 percent of adults uninsured.
Across the United States, 5.4 million workers lost their health insurance during the pandemic, bringing the uninsured rate to about 16 percent, according to the Families USA study. It will likely be the biggest increase in uninsured over a one-year period ever recorded, already exceeding the 3.9 million who lost employer-sponsored coverage from 2008 to 2009, in the thick of the Great Recession.
Before this recession is over, more than 10 million Americans could also lose health insurance as job losses mount, according to an analysis from the Urban Institute, a Washington think tank. Early models show that about one-third of the 10 million people will qualify for a spouse or other family member’s health insurance plan and another 2.8 million — just over a quarter — will enroll in Medicaid, the federal insurance program for the poor.
About half of Texas residents rely on job-based health insurance, said Stacey Pogue, a senior policy analyst for Every Texan, an Austin health policy think tank. New claims for unemployment benefits in Texas have crept up again in Texas, with roughly 117,000 people applying for benefits during the first week of July.
“They all had the rug pulled out from under them due to job loss and had to scramble to see if they could get other coverage,” Pogue said.
The Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that 1.6 million Texans could have become uninsured between March and May, including children and other dependents covered by an adult’s health insurance plan. But those estimated did not account for adults and families who may have enrolled in Medicaid or COBRA, which allows workers to stay on an employer-sponsored health plan for 18 months.
The numbers from the Families USA study account for people who have already found replacement insurance plans.
Texas legislators have not expanded Medicaid to cover a wider swath of the low-income population, meaning very few will qualify for safety-net coverage. Proposed state budget cuts could also reduce the scope of subsidized health insurance.