A new report from the California Healthcare Foundation offers several sobering statistics about the uninsured population in California, just as some of those who have signed up for health coverage through Covered California will see their coverage begin Jan. 1.
“California’s Uninsured: By the Numbers” contains several data points that cast doubt on the Golden State’s image as a progressive utopia.
According to the report, California’s working population is less insured than its overall population. While around 20 percent of the state’s residents are uninsured, about one in four of those that work don’t have health insurance.
This may be a result of declining employer coverage. In 2012, some 54 percent of California residents got coverage through their employer (the most common way to get health coverage in the United States). But that number is smaller than it was in 1988, when 63 percent of California’s got health insurance from their employer.
“Employees in businesses of all sizes are more likely to be uninsured in California than in the United States,” the report stated. “In businesses with fewer than 10 employees, 40 [percent] of workers are likely to have no insurance.”
And 62 percent of the children without health insurance had a parent in their household who worked full time. Almost a third of the uninsured population had a household family income of $50,000 or more.
