New England had the lowest percentage of uninsured individuals under age 65 in 2004-06 and the Southwest had the highest, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics released June 25. The report is based on data collected from 240,000 people under age 65 as part of the 2004-06 National Health Interview Survey.
Overall, 91.1 percent of New Englanders had some kind of health insurance in 2004-06. The Southwest had the greatest proportion of uninsured--18.2 percent of children and nearly 30 percent of adults.
Among other findings, the survey found that nationally, 67.8 percent of the population under age 65 had private health insurance, whereas 13.2 percent had insurance through Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and 3.4 percent had other types of public coverage, leaving 16.6 percent uninsured during the 2004-06 period.
Preliminary national data for 2007 were also released in a separate report, showing 43.1 million Americans of all ages were uninsured in 2007 (14.5 percent of the population.) This report also shows that 8.9 percent of children under age 18 had no health insurance in 2007--the lowest percentage of uninsured children in the past decade. Read the report.
