Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Health Insurance Coverage in Utah

The U.S. Census Bureau just released its Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE) for 2011. As reforms outlined by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act continue to roll out, understanding current health insurance deficiencies becomes increasingly important.

After the jump, the visualization allows you to extract county-level health insurance coverage data by age, gender, race/ethnicity and income level for 2011. Those over 65 and older are generally eligible for Medicare, so these data focus on individual coverage under 65 years of age. So, if you are interested in these details, be sure to “read more.” Until then, here are a few interesting facts about health-insurance coverage in Utah.


  • Roughly 17 percent of Utahns under the age of 65 are not covered by health insurance. 
  • State by state, uninsured rates ranged from 4.9 percent (Massachusetts) to 25.7 percent (Texas). 
  • Utah’s uninsured rate ranks near the middle of the pack. 
  • In Utah, the ratio of individuals under 65 without health insurance ranges from 12 percent (neighbors Morgan and Davis counties) to 24 percent (Wayne County). Davis County and Morgan counties rank nationally among counties with the lowest uninsured levels. 
  • In general, rural counties display higher shares of uninsured non-senior populations. 
  • Counties with lower uninsured rates often show a high level of public sector employment or are dominated by industries which typically provide health insurance coverage for their employees. 
  • Among the typical Utah working-age population (18 to 64), almost 20 percent do not carry health insurance (compared to 12 percent for the population under 65). 
  • Those under 19 years of age are most likely to have health insurance—at least partially because of government medical safety-net programs. 
  • Utah women (15 percent) are less likely to be uninsured than are Utah men (18 percent). 
  • White, non-Hispanics show an uninsured ratio of 13 percent compared to 36 percent for Latinos and 20 percent for African Americans. 
  • Despite medical programs for the poor, the lower an individual’s income, the less likely they are to have health insurance in Utah.