One In Eight Rhode Islanders Lack Health Insurance
Thursday, September 15, 2011
One in eight non-elderly people living in Rhode Island (119,000) had no health coverage in 2009-2010, an increase of 8,000 from the prior year, according to Census Bureau figures released yesterday. Nationally, 48.7 million people under 65 (18.3 percent) had no health insurance last year.
According to the report, the decrease in employer-sponsored insurance is the primary cause for the shrinking number of Rhode Islanders without health coverage. Sixty-four percent of Rhode Islanders had employer-provided coverage in 2009-2010, down from 68 percent which reflects the state’s unemployment rate going from 9.3 to 11.3 percent during comparable time periods.
Medicaid helped to prevent larger numbers of uninsured especially among parents and children who are enrolled in the RIte Care/RIte Share program. According to the new data, Medicaid provided access to comprehensive health care for 171,145 of non-elderly Rhode Islanders, including adults with disabilities, children in substitute care and families, in 2009-2010.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTParents and children in families with income less than 175 percent of the federal poverty level ($38,588 for a family of 4) are eligible for RIte Care/RIte Share while children are eligible if family income is less than 250 percent FPL. Rhode Island’s innovative RIte Share program ensures that families eligible for Medicaid participate in available employer sponsored coverage so that employers partner with the state in paying for health care. In 2009-10, nine percent of the children and parents in RIte Care/RIte Share were enrolled in the parents’ work-place coverage
Affordable Care Act
Under national healthcare reform, the Affordable Care Act, many more Rhode Islanders will have access to affordable health insurance. Beginning in 2014, Medicaid will provide coverage to low-income adults with income less than 133 percent of the federal poverty level, and individuals with income less than four times the poverty level will have access to subsidies to help pay for private health insurance.
“We know that uninsured individuals have a harder time accessing care, have poorer health outcomes and a harder time paying for basic necessities because of medical bills. The high numbers of uninsured in Rhode Island and across the nation can only be remedied if policy makers at the state and federal levels maintain a strong and comprehensive Medicaid program and keep the promise of the Affordable Care Act,” said Linda Katz, Policy Director of The Poverty Institute.
The preliminary data released today show that the poverty rate in Rhode Island was 13.3 percent for 2009-2010 (138,000 individuals) up from 11.1 percent in 2007-2008. This is the highest rate among the New England states. The national poverty rate rose to 15.1 percent in 2010 up from 14.3 percent in 2009. The number of people living in poverty in the U.S., 46.2 million, is the largest number of people in poverty since the Census began tracking the estimates in 1959.
On September 22, the Census Bureau will release more reliable poverty estimates for 2010 as part of the American Community Survey. The Poverty Institute will provide a comprehensive analysis of the ACS poverty information which is much larger survey and therefore a more reliable estimate for states.
If you valued this article, please LIKE GoLocalProv.com on Facebook by clicking HERE.
