State’s uninsured rate up by a fraction, report says
Georgia’s uninsured rate ticked up slightly, to 13.4 percent, in 2017, the U.S. Census Bureau reported this week. That’s the fourthhighest rate in the nation.
The state trails only Texas, Oklahoma and Alaska. The uninsured rate in Georgia was 12.9 percent in 2016.
Nationally, 8.8 percent of people, or 28.5 million, did not have health insurance at any point during 2017, the Census Bureau said. The uninsured rate and number of uninsured were not statistically different from 2016.
The Georgia numbers are “mixed news,” said Bill Custer, a health insurance expert at Georgia State University. “The change is small enough, it may just be statistical noise.”
Two forces worked to hold the uninsured rate fairly steady, Custer said. Individuals faced sharp premium increases for coverage in the insurance exchange, but the job market was good, so more people had opportunities for employer-based health benefits, he said.
“Other states have solidified their individual insurance markets and expanded Medicaid, and increased health care coverage,” Custer said.
One Southeastern state that expanded Medicaid, Kentucky, has seen its percentage of people without coverage fall from 14.3 percent in 2013 to 5.4 percent in 2017. Georgia’s elected leaders have opted not to expand the state’s Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act, saying the move would be too costly.
About 17 percent of Americans were uninsured in 2010, the year the ACA was enacted.
The Census numbers are considered the gold standard for tracking who has health insurance because the survey samples are so large, Kaiser Health News reported.
Georgia was one of 14 states that saw a rise in its uninsured rate last year. The uninsured rate fell in three states — California, New York and Louisiana.
Georgia Health News, a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization, tracks state medical issues on its website georgiahealthnews.com.