Not unlike 2002, 12% of households in the Mid-Hudson region include at least one member who is currently without health insurance. Using the U.S. Census, approximately 48,125 households of the estimated 401,049 households in the region have at least one adult or child who does not have health insurance.
Looking across the Mid-Hudson Valley, there are county differences. Columbia, Greene, Sullivan, and Ulster Counties have the highest rate of uninsured households. About one in six households in these counties have at least one member who is uninsured.
In Orange and Dutchess Counties, this rate is about one in ten. 12% of households in Orange County and 10% of households in Dutchess County do not have continuous health coverage for all members.
Putnam County is home to the smallest proportion of uninsured households with just 7% currently lacking coverage.
There are demographic differences between uninsured households and Mid-Hudson Valley households overall.
Residents that are currently without a health plan reside predominantly in lower income households. While 25% of the region has income of less than $30,000 per year, a majority, 55%, of the currently uninsured are in this low income bracket.
Although 12% of Mid-Hudson Valley households contend with the lack of current insurance, 34% of Mid-Hudson Valley households with a yearly income of less than $15,000 are without current coverage for all members.
Higher income households are much less likely to be uninsured. Only 6% of households with a yearly income of $50,000 or more and 4% of those with earnings of $100,000 or more are without health insurance.
Households currently without
health insurance are just as likely to have residents who are working as
Mid-Hudson Valley households in general. 68% of households in the region have at least one employed member, as do 65% of households that face the challenge of living without insurance for all members.
12% of households that are employed are not currently insured. This number is identical to the region as a whole.
The problem is evident for working households in lower income brackets. Although they do work, households with lower income are much less likely to succeed in finding employment that will provide health insurance. The working poor with an annual income of $15,000 or less represent 4% of the Mid-Hudson Valley population but 17% of the uninsured. Working households with low income, those earning $30,000 a year or less, comprise 14% of the region but 38% of households without health insurance.
Not only do Mid-Hudson Valley residents without health insurance work, they work as many hours as workers in the region in general. The number of hours worked in an average week has no relationship to whether or not a worker will have current health insurance. Regardless of the number of hours worked, the chance of being without insurance remains constant.
Households without current coverage are less financially stable than Mid-Hudson Valley households overall. They are more than twice as likely to have received public assistance in the past year. 20% of those without health insurance have received public assistance in the past year compared with 8% of Mid-Hudson Valley households overall.
Uninsured households are more likely than Mid-Hudson Valley households in general to experience difficulty paying for food, housing, utility bills, or medical treatment. 54% of uninsured households have faced economic hardship on at least one occasion in the past year compared with 24% of Mid-Hudson Valley households as a whole.
76% of households without health insurance anticipate they would be unable to pay their bills within three months if they were to lose their source of income. This compares with 52% of all Mid-Hudson Valley households.
The uninsured are generally younger. While residents between eighteen and thirty years of age make up 19% of the Mid-Hudson Valley population, they comprise 30% of the households in the region without health insurance.
The likelihood of being without health insurance decreases with age. One in five residents age eighteen to thirty live in a household that does not currently have health insurance for all its members. 8% of residents age 60 or older live in an uninsured household.
As noted, 12% of Mid-Hudson Valley households are currently without health insurance. White and African American households have comparable rates to the region as a whole with about one in ten lacking current coverage. 12% of white residents and 11% of African American residents live in uninsured households. Latino residents are particularly vulnerable. One in five Latino households currently lacks health insurance.
Immigrants and residents who speak a language other than English at home are at higher risk of not having health insurance than Mid-Hudson Valley residents overall. 25% of immigrant households and 36% of non-English speaking households are currently without health plans.
The likelihood of being uninsured diminishes as the length of residence in the region increases. 15% of households that have been in the area for five years or less are uninsured. This proportion decreases to 11% for households that have been in the community over ten years.
Residents without health insurance are more likely than the general population to consider leaving the area in the next five years. 29% of the region’s residents say they intend to leave the Mid-Hudson Valley in the near future. 38% of households without health insurance intend to move out of the region in the next five years.
