Red vs. Blue: Health Insurance Coverage

By MannyGoldstein at Fri, 2005-11-11 23:28

Bottom Line:

Coverage varies widely among states; blue states have much wider coverage.

Data:

State	Liberality Score [1]	Liberality Rank	%Population Without Health Insurance[2]	Rank Insurance Coverage
Minnesota	107%	15	7.9	1
Iowa	99%	20	9.5	2
Wisconsin	101%	19	9.8	3
Rhode Island	154%	2	9.8	3
Massachusetts	168%	1	9.9	5
Delaware	117%	11	9.9	5
New Hampshire	103%	18	9.9	5
Hawaii	119%	10	10	8
Nebraska	50%	47	10.2	9
Kansas	59%	42	10.4	10
Connecticut	124%	6	10.5	11
Vermont	152%	3	10.7	12
Tennessee	75%	32	10.8	13
North Dakota	56%	45	10.9	14
Pennsylvania	105%	17	11.3	15
Maine	120%	9	11.3	15
South Dakota	64%	40	11.5	17
Missouri	86%	26	11.6	18
Michigan	107%	16	11.7	19
Ohio	96%	22	11.9	20
South Carolina	71%	35	12.5	21
Alabama	59%	43	12.7	22
Indiana	65%	38	13.1	23
Maryland	130%	5	13.4	24
Utah	36%	50	13.4	24
Virginia	85%	27	13.5	26
Kentucky	67%	37	13.6	27
New Jersey	114%	13	13.9	28
Illinois	123%	7	14.1	29
Washington	116%	12	14.2	30
Oregon	109%	14	14.6	31
West Virginia	77%	31	14.6	31
Montana	65%	39	15.3	33
New York	146%	4	15.8	34
Colorado	91%	24	16.1	35
Georgia	71%	34	16.1	35
Arkansas	82%	28	16.3	37
Mississippi	67%	36	16.7	38
North Carolina	78%	30	16.8	39
Arizona	81%	29	16.8	39
Oklahoma	53%	46	17.3	41
Florida	90%	25	17.3	41
Wyoming	42%	49	17.7	43
Idaho	44%	48	17.9	44
California	122%	8	18.2	45
Louisiana	74%	33	18.4	46
Alaska	58%	44	18.7	47
Nevada	95%	23	19.7	48
New Mexico	98%	21	21.1	49
Texas	63%	41	25.8	50

Discussion:

Blue states hold seven of the eight highest spots in the ranking. It's a little surprising that a red state ranks second; however, that red state happens to be Iowa, which is the red state that's closest to being blue (Bush won the state by only the tiniest of margins).

Red states make up 15 of the 16 bottom states, with the great state of Texas at the very bottom. Fully one-quarter of Texans do not have health insurance.

References:

[1] Liberality Score for a state is the ratio of the votes received by Kerry to the votes received by Bush in the 2004 Presidential election. Data from http://uselectionatlas.org/USPRESIDENT/data.php?year=2004&datatype=national&def=1&f=1

[2] Information Please Almanac, 2002 http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0106394.html (sourced from U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, March 2003)

Red vs. Blue: Divorce

printer-friendly version

Red vs. Blue: Health Insurance Coverage

All time: