Texas has highest number of uninsured in U.S.

Report: Large percentage of adults without coverage are employed

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updated 2:21 p.m. ET April 27, 2005

WASHINGTON - Minnesota has the lowest percentage of adults without health insurance of any state and Texas has the highest, according to a study released Wednesday.

The study was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which seeks to promote health coverage for all Americans. It noted that a significant portion of the uninsured in the country are employed.

“There is an old image that people who are uninsured don’t work or are on public assistance,” said Stuart Schear, a foundation employee. “That’s never really been accurate and is completely inaccurate today.”

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The study uses data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for 2003. States with the highest rate of uninsured adults were: Texas, 30.7 percent; Louisiana, 26.4; and New Mexico, 26 percent.

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A state-by-state look at the uninsured in the U.S.

Those were the same states with the highest percentages of uninsured adults with jobs: Texas, 26.6 percent; Louisiana, 22.6 percent; and New Mexico, 22.6 percent.

Schear said most of the uninsured make a modest living. The poverty level for a family of four amounts to about $19,000 a year, and most of the uninsured earn incomes between that level and twice the rate of poverty.

The states with the lowest uninsured rates among all adults were: Minnesota, 8.3 percent; Hawaii, 9.8 percent; and Delaware, 10.2 percent.

Again, those tended to be the states that fared best when it came to the lowest uninsured rates for adults with jobs: Minnesota, 6.9 percent, and Hawaii, 8.5 percent. The District of Columbia had 8.9 percent.

Schear said the foundation did not make a particular policy recommendation to reduce the number of uninsured — only that there are myriad methods that lawmakers should consider, including tax credits that serve as incentives to buy insurance, or a government-provided insurance benefit. He said the public is more focused on the issue than elected officials.