The Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS) has given grants to 40 states, 1
territory and the District of Columbia to study the uninsured and to
develop initiatives for providing access to health insurance coverage
to all citizens of the State.
State Planning Grant Program grantees have used the funds to study the uninsured populations, develop
options for expanding insurance coverage, and develop consensus on
their approach to expanding such coverage consistent with the unique
characteristics in their State. Grantee States have been engaged in
designing approaches that provide affordable health insurance benefits
similar in scope to the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan, Medicaid,
coverage offered to State employees, or other similar quality benchmarks.
They are pursuing a multitude of approaches to this task, developing
a wealth of information on their populations, and are producing unique
designs appropriate to their State environment.
Missouri
data yielded four very important observations critical to policy development
related to health insurance coverage:
Young adults
(ages 19-24) comprise the age group that is most likely to be uninsured.
Approximately 58.1% of Missouri’s uninsured residents
do not have a regular source of care.
The uninsured
report fewer doctor visits and overnight hospital stays when compared
to their publicly and privately insured counterparts.
Over one-third
(38.9%) of the uninsured reported having to forego health care due
to cost.
Across geographical
regions within Missouri, the Northeastern region of the state has
the highest percentage of uninsurance (13.1%), and the St. Louis
metro area reporting the lowest (5.8%).
Those living
in a MSA (7.0%) have significantly lower rates of uninsurance than
those living in a non-MSA (12.1%).