Maintaining continuous health insurance coverage throughout the year is a challenge for a considerable proportion of Mid-Hudson Valley households. 24% of all households in the region have experienced some interruption in coverage over the past year. This includes both adults and children who do not have health insurance at present and households, while currently insured, have had at least one member without coverage during the past year. Using the U.S. Census, this means approximately 96,250 of the estimated 401,049 households in the region face the challenge of maintaining uninterrupted health coverage for all household members.
There has been no progress in reducing this proportion since 2002. At that time, 24% of Mid-Hudson Valley residents were also without health insurance or experienced a gap in their plan.
There are regional differences in the proportion of households in each county that have experienced an interruption in their health insurance. Columbia and Ulster Counties have the greatest proportion of households who face gaps in their health insurance coverage. 31% of households in both counties have not had continuous coverage over the past year.
Nearly three in ten households in Greene and Sullivan Counties have gaps in their health insurance coverage. 29% of households in Greene County and 28% of households in Sullivan County do not have continuous health care plans.
About one in four households in Orange County and one in five households in Dutchess County have not been able to rely on uninterrupted health insurance. 24% of households in Orange County and 22% in Dutchess County deal with gaps in their health insurance plan. Putnam County has the smallest proportion of households without current or continuous health insurance at 14%.
There are notable differences between households who have not had either current or continuous insurance and the entire population of residents in the Mid-Hudson Valley.
Mid-Hudson Valley households as a whole are better off economically than those who lack uninterrupted health insurance. Households with gaps in their health care coverage have lower annual household income. While 24% of Mid-Hudson Valley households had a gap in coverage, the proportion increases to 44% for households with a yearly income of $30,000 or less.
In contrast, only 15% of households with a yearly income of $50,000 or more and 10% of households with an annual income of $100,000 or more faced a disruption in their health plan.
49% of households that have at least one adult looking for work have had, at minimum, some interruption in their coverage. These households are looking for work either because no one in the household has a job at this time or because they want to supplement existing employment.
While the need for continuous health insurance is glaring among Mid-Hudson Valley households looking for work, employment is by no means a guarantee of continuous health insurance. 25% of households with employed members have not had continuous coverage compared with 24% of Mid-Hudson Valley households overall.
Moreover, working more jobs does not increase the likelihood of going without at least one disruption. 25% of Mid-Hudson Valley households that hold one job and 26% of those that maintain two or more jobs have not had continuous coverage.
Low income working households, that is, residents from households with an income of less than $30,000 a year in which at least one adult is employed, are hard pressed. 55% of these working households experienced at least one break in their health insurance coverage over the last year.
Nearly half of all households who received public assistance in the past year went without a health plan at some point during that same time period.
Not surprisingly, Mid-Hudson Valley households without continuous coverage are more dependent on their source of income to pay the bills each month. Those who have had gaps in their coverage are more likely than residents as a whole to anticipate they will have insufficient funds to pay their bills either immediately or within one to three months of losing their source of income. 52% of the region’s residents feel they would be unable to pay their bills within three months. This proportion increases to 69% for households that have the burden of interrupted health coverage.
The challenge of maintaining health insurance occurs in tandem with other economic difficulties. Households with gaps in health insurance are more likely than residents as a whole to also struggle with paying for food, housing, utility bills, or medical treatment. About half of households with intermittent health insurance report encountering at least one of these difficulties over the course of the past year. This compares with about one quarter of Mid-Hudson Valley households that have had this kind of economic hardship.
Young people are much more likely to have gaps in their health insurance coverage. 43% of residents between eighteen and thirty years of age report their household either went without or had a disruption in coverage over the past year.
Mid-Hudson Valley adults age thirty and under make up 19% of the region. This age cohort represents nearly a third of households, 32%, that have had at least one break in their insurance plan in the past year.
The need for an uninterrupted health plan affects residents of all races in the Mid-Hudson Valley. 23% of white residents and 26% of African Americans have had gaps in their coverage. Particularly affected are Latino residents. Four in ten Latinos have been without current or continuous coverage over the past year.
Immigrants, as well as households that speak a language other than English at home, also have difficulty maintaining health insurance coverage. 37% of Mid-Hudson Valley residents born outside of the United States and nearly half of those who speak another language at home have had at least some interruption in coverage in the past year.
It is important to note that residents both new to the region and those that have lived here a long time contend with this problem. In the course of the last year, 27% of people who have moved here in the past five years, as well as, 23% of those that have been here for ten or more years have had to deal with at least one break in health insurance coverage.
However, when people were asked about whether or not they were planning to stay in the area, a different pattern emerges. 29% of Mid-Hudson Valley residents express a desire to move away in the next five years. Yet, for those with a gap in health insurance coverage, this proportion increases to 40%.
Rates of uninterrupted health insurance coverage for people with a disability are similar to those for Mid-Hudson Valley residents as a whole. 26% of people with a disability have not had continuous health insurance compared with 24% of the region’s households. However, people under age 65 with a disability are more likely to have problems maintaining consistent insurance. 32% of these residents had at least some gap in coverage over the past year.
