Potter and Randall counties share a border and a large city. The northern half of Amarillo is in Potter county and the southern half of the city is in Randall county. Considering that, I would've thought that the two counties would be very similar healthwise. But evidently I am wrong.
The University of Wisconsin's Population Health Institute has conducted a survey of 3,000 counties nationwide. The report they recently released compares the counties within a state rather than to counties nationwide. They surveyed 221 out of Texas' 254 counties, and it looks like Randall county came out a lot better than Potter county did.
Each county was rated twice -- for Health Outcomes and for Health Factors. Out of the 221 counties surveyed, Randall came out looking pretty good. Randall ranked #20 in Health Outcomes and #8 in Health Factors. Meanwhile, Potter county ranked #203 in Health Outcomes and #202 in Health Factors.
That just blew me away! How could these two counties be so radically different in health, especially considering they share the same large city?
Another thing I found interesting was the percentage of uninsured residents. Randall county has 21% of its citizens without any health insurance, while Potter county has a 22% uninsured rate. While that's slightly better than Texas as a whole (26%), it's still a lot of uninsured people in the two counties. That's over a fifth of each county. Using 2008 estimated population figures, that would mean about 26,601 Potter county residents and 24,054 Randall county residents do not have health insurance.
With those kind of figures, I find it amazing that both counties vote solidly Republican (and like good Republicans oppose any real health care reform). Obviously, the 78% or 79% in each county that has insurance doesn't realize that the large number of uninsured pushes up the cost of health care and health insurance for everyone. It drives the cost of things like hospital care up and the insurance must then pay those higher costs (resulting in higher premiums).
These folks may not realize it, but they are already paying for the health care of those without insurance. It would be cheaper for them if there was a public health insurance option that would not only cover the uninsured, but would create a downward pressure on health premiums for everyone.
But have you ever tried to reason with a Republican -- it ain't easy!
No comments:
Post a Comment
ANONYMOUS COMMENTS WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED. And neither will racist,homophobic, or misogynistic comments. I do not mind if you disagree, but make your case in a decent manner.