Hispanics in Arizona lack health insurance

Nearly 4-in-10 Arizonans lacked health insurance in past 2 years
By Stephanie Innes, Arizona Daily Star | 03.27.2009

A new study says that nearly 40 percent of Arizonans under the age of 65 were without health insurance for one month or more during the last two years.

And Hispanics are much more likely to be without health insurance than non-Hispanics, says the study, released today by the New York-based Families USA, a health consumer organization.

The study, from the non-profit health consumer organization Families USA, says that 2.1 million Arizonans under the age of 65 went without health insurance at some point during 2007 and 2008. The study also says that 77 percent of those people were uninsured for six months or more.

“The huge number of people without health coverage in Arizona is worse than an epidemic,” said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA. “At this point, almost everyone in the country has a family member, neighbor or friend who was uninsured — and that’s why meaningful health care reform can no longer be kept on the back burner.”

The Arizona results were not unique, however. Nationwide about 86.7 million Americans — one out of three people under the age of 65 — was uninsured at some point during the last two years, the study says.

The numbers for both the state and the country are much higher than data from the U.S. Census Bureau, which says about 46 million Americans were without health insurance in 2007. In Arizona, that number is 1.2 million, or nearly 20 percent of the population.

The Families USA numbers may be higher because it included people who were without health insurance at some point, but not for the entire year.

Other Arizona findings in the new study:
- Nearly four in five of Arizona’s uninsured — 79.1 percent — were in working families, working full-time or part-time.
- Hispanics in Arizona were much more likely to be uninsured than whites — 55.6 percent of Hispanics went without health insurance in 2007 and 2008, compared with 27.1 percent of whites.