Number Of Uninsured Still Rising

Washington may have passed a health care reform law but it certainly hasn't had an effect yet on the number of people in America without health insurance. A recent Gallup Poll shows that there are now 16.4% of Americans that are uninsured (that's about 50,634,268 people). And it shows a rise of 1.6% since 2008 (an increase of slightly more than 8 million people).

There were only four states that did not show an increase in the number of uninsured people since 2008 -- Arkansas, Alaska, Maine and Wyoming (who all showed a slight decrease). All other states, including Massachusetts, showed an increase. The state with the most uninsured people was Texas. In 2008, Texas had 25% of its population without health insurance. That has now climbed to 27.8% (close to 3 out of every 10 people). Like most states, Texas is going backwards in coverage (and no other state is within 2.5% of Texas).

Racially and ethnically it is Hispanics that are least likely to have insurance coverage. About 38.9% of Hispanics have no coverage. African-Americans are second with 20.2% having no coverage. About 12.2% of Whites and 12.0% of Asians have no health insurance coverage. Around 28.0% of those age 18 to 26 are without coverage.

The South is the region with the highest number of uninsured people (20.3%), followed by the West (18.7%), the Midwest (13.8%), and the East (10.7%). As you can see, the South and the West are above the national average, while the Midwest and the East are below it. Here are the 10 states with the highest and lowest percentage of uninsured people:

HIGHEST
Texas...............27.8%
Mississippi...............24.9%
Louisiana...............23.7%
Oklahoma...............22.9%
Florida...............22.8%
New Mexico...............22.7%
Nevada...............22.5%
Georgia...............22.1%
California...............21.6%
South Carolina...............21.4%

LOWEST
Massachusetts...............4.7%
Connecticut...............9.9%
Minnesota...............10.5%
Hawaii...............10.6%
Pennsylvania...............11.0%
Vermont...............11.0%
Wisconsin...............11.2%
Maryland...............11.7%
New Jersey...............12.0%
New Hampshire...............12.4%

I noticed one interesting fact from the above lists. Almost all of the states with the highest number of uninsured people are states that have been controlled by Republicans for a while now. The opposite is true of the states that have the lowest rates of uninsured people. You don't think it could be possible that Republican politicians don't care about uninsured people (as long as they have their own coverage), do you?