Women without Health Insurance (%)
Without health insurance, most women cannot obtain the health care they need. As noted in the national report card, nearly one in five women ages 18-64 is uninsured in the U.S. Although the lack of health insurance is a significant problem for both men and women, women face special challenges. Women are generally poorer than men, and nationwide earn just 78 cents for every dollar men earn.1 Women also use the health care system more, in part due to their reproductive health needs.2
Because they are poorer (on average) and use more care, women spend a greater share of their income on their health needs. They are more likely than men to struggle with medical debt and to report cost-related problems accessing health care. Women without coverage are especially likely to struggle to afford the care they need.3 In 2007, nearly half of uninsured women reported problems with medical bills, including being unable to pay for food, heat or rent, using up all of their savings, taking out a mortgage or a loan against their home, or taking on credit card debt.4
The Report Card benchmark is the Healthy People 2010 benchmark of 100 percent coverage for all people (when applied to women) [Healthy People 2010, Objective 1-1].
| State | State Overall Data | State Grade | State Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 18.1 | F | 30 |
| Alaska | 21.5 | F | 42 |
| Arizona | 21.2 | F | 41 |
| Arkansas | 24.7 | F | 48 |
| California | 22.7 | F | 45 |
| Colorado | 17.8 | F | 29 |
| Connecticut | 12.0 | U | 7 |
| Delaware | 13.3 | U | 14 |
| District of Columbia | 10.3 | U | 6 |
| Florida | 26.0 | F | 49 |
| Georgia | 22.6 | F | 44 |
| Hawaii | 9.5 | U | 2 |
| Idaho | 19.8 | F | 36 |
| Illinois | 16.0 | F | 20 |
| Indiana | 17.4 | F | 27 |
| Iowa | 13.0 | U | 12 |
| Kansas | 15.0 | F | 18 |
| Kentucky | 20.8 | F | 40 |
| Louisiana | 23.7 | F | 47 |
| Maine | 12.4 | U | 11 |
| Maryland | 14.5 | F | 17 |
| Massachusetts | 5.2 | S- | 1 |
| Michigan | 16.0 | F | 20 |
| Minnesota | 9.9 | U | 3 |
| Mississippi | 21.5 | F | 42 |
| Missouri | 17.0 | F | 26 |
| Montana | 19.0 | F | 34 |
| Nebraska | 13.2 | U | 13 |
| Nevada | 22.7 | F | 45 |
| New Hampshire | 12.3 | U | 9 |
| New Jersey | 17.4 | F | 27 |
| New Mexico | 27.4 | F | 50 |
| New York | 16.1 | F | 23 |
| North Carolina | 20.0 | F | 37 |
| North Dakota | 12.3 | U | 9 |
| Ohio | 16.0 | F | 20 |
| Oklahoma | 20.6 | F | 38 |
| Oregon | 18.9 | F | 33 |
| Pennsylvania | 12.1 | U | 8 |
| Rhode Island | 13.4 | U | 15 |
| South Carolina | 19.2 | F | 35 |
| South Dakota | 16.4 | F | 25 |
| Tennessee | 18.2 | F | 31 |
| Texas | 30.8 | F | 51 |
| Utah | 16.2 | F | 24 |
| Vermont | 9.9 | U | 3 |
| Virginia | 15.0 | F | 18 |
| Washington | 14.1 | F | 16 |
| West Virginia | 20.7 | F | 39 |
| Wisconsin | 9.9 | U | 3 |
| Wyoming | 18.8 | F | 32 |
Data Source: Women without Health Insurance (%), 2008-2009.
EXPLANATION: This measure includes women ages 18-64 in the non-institutionalized civilian population5 who report that they do not have health insurance.
SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), “Annual Social and Economic Supplement” (ASEC) 2009, 2010 (databases) (unpublished data available at http://www.census.gov/cps/). The overall state data and the state data by age group are based on estimates of pooled 2008 and 2009 data from the 2009 and 2010 CPS ASEC. The overall U.S. data and U.S. data by age group are based on 2009 data from the 2010 CPS ASEC. Data by race/ethnicity at the state and national level are for 2008 to 2009 and are from the 2009 and 2010 CPS ASEC.
1 U.S. Census Bureau, “Men’s and Women’s Earnings for States and Metropolitan Statistical Areas: 2009” (American Community Survey Brief, Issued September 2010), available at http://www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/acsbr09-3.pdf
2 Elizabeth Patchias and Judy Waxman, National Women’s Law Center, Women and Health Coverage: The Affordability Gap, 2007, available at http://www.nwlc.org/resource/women-and-health-coverage-affordability-gap...
3 Sheila D. Rustgi and others, The Commonwealth Fund, Women at Risk: Why Many Women are Forgoing Needed Health Care, 2009, available at http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/Issue-Briefs/2009/M...
4 Id.
5 The term “institutionalized population” as used in the Report Card includes persons “under formally authorized, supervised care or custody, such as in federal or state prisons; local jails; federal detention centers; juvenile institutions; nursing, convalescent, and rest homes for the aged and dependent; and homes, schools, hospitals or wards for the physically handicapped, mentally retarded, or mentally ill.” U.S. Census Bureau, Census of Population and Housing, 1990: Summary Tape File 3, Technical Documentation (Washington: U.S. Census Bureau, 1992) [CD-ROM].
