The results of a new study are showing that in 2010, California was the state with the most residents – approximately 7 million – who do not have health insurance coverage.
According to the California HealthCare Foundation’s data, around 1 million children and 6 million residents under the age of 65 did not have health insurance. Among the nonelderly population of the state, an average of 21 percent were not covered by health insurance over the three years from 2008 through to the end of 2010.
On the national list, California was the eighth worst state. The worst state in the country, where 27.5 percent of its residents were uninsured, was Texas.
Some of the data from the California insurance report didn’t change at all between 2009 and 2010. The uninsured rate in both years for the state’s residents was 21.5 percent, according to the annual tracking from the Foundation.
Health Access is a consumer advocacy group, and its executive director, Anthony Wright, said that there have been some “disturbing trends” throughout the last few decades as there has been “a gradual erosion of employer-based coverage and public programs picking up some but not all of the slack.”
The recent study showed that among people who were employed in California in 2010, 23.7 percent of them were uninsured. This is higher than the country’s average rate of 19.6 percent.
It was small businesses that found it the most difficult to offer their employees health coverage, as 22.1 percent of workers at private companies with between 100 and 499 employees did not have health insurance.