Census report shows one in five residents of the state did not have coverage in 2010.
Nearly one in every five people in Arizona were without health insurance coverage in 2010, according to a report from the Census Bureau that was recently released.
In counties facing greater struggles, that uninsured rate rose to one quarter.
The report indicated that the overall rate of uninsured individuals under the age of 65 in A
rizona was at 19.3 percent that year. This was slightly worse than the average across the country in 2010, which was 17.7 percent. Among all of the states, Texas had the worst percentage of people without health insurance, as a massive 26.3 percent of its population was without coverage.
At the other end of the scale, only 5.2 percent of people in Massachusetts lacked health insurance.
According to an Arizona Association of Community Health Centers spokesperson, Tara Plese, this data is notable for the state, as this illustrates the “tremendous number” of individuals who require medical care but who are not compensated through a policy or plan. She explained that “We are really seeing it in our health centers.”
The Small Area Health Insurance Estimates report, which was put out by the Census Bureau, identified the worst counties in the state in 2010 for coverage: Santa Cruz, La Paz, and Yuma. That year represents the most recent in which there are complete statistics available.
The Tri-Valley Medical Clinic’s director, Justin Carmack, stated that this Salome based organization in La Paz county suffers from significant struggles as a result of the number of individuals they must assist without health insurance. He stated that “We see a lot of uninsured patients,” and added that “Most of them are the migrant farm workers population.”
The clinic provides a 30 percent discount for certain cash-based services such as checkups and vaccines, said Carmack. He also described an assistance program at the clinic, which is designed to help patients without coverage to make their payments in installments. However, he also added that this has quite the impact on the wellbeing of the clinic itself, as “We take the hit on the bottom line.”
