Ohioans without health insurance rise

VW independent/submitted information

CINCINNATI — About 1 in 10 Ohio adults age 18-64 (11 percent) reported not having health insurance in the 2016 Ohio Health Issues Poll (OHIP) sponsored by Interact for Health. This translates to nearly 800,000 uninsured Ohio adults.

That figure is an increase from 2015, when 7 percent reported being uninsured (about 500,000 uninsured adults). OHIP’s finding is similar to national surveys. In early 2016, 12 percent of adults nationwide were uninsured.

The percentage of uninsured adults in both Ohio and the nation dropped significantly in 2014 when the major parts of the Affordable Care Act were implemented. The current number of uninsured Ohio adults remains below the 17 to 19 percent reported between 2007 and 2013.

Ohio adults ages 18-29 reported the largest increase in being uninsured. In 2016, more than 2 in 10 young adults (22 percent) were uninsured. That compares with fewer than 1 in 10 young adults (8 percent) in 2015.

“Having stable health insurance is an important factor in being able to get needed health care and to stay healthy,” says Kate Keller, Vice President, System Strategies, Interact for Health. “Understanding the changes in the insurance market will be important to maintain insurance levels for all Ohioans.”

In 2016, more than half of Ohio adults (55 percent) receive health insurance through their employer or a spouse’s employer. This is about the same as in 2015. Adults ages 18-29 reported the largest change. In 2016, about 3 in 10 young adults (32 percent) had a plan through an employer. That compares with more than 4 in 10 young adults (46 percent) in 2015.

More than 2 in 10 Ohio adults (22 percent) reported that they received public insurance from Medicare, Medicaid, veteran benefits or a combination of the three. This is about the same as in 2015 and similar to the nation (20 percent). About 1 in 10 Ohio adults (13 percent) had insurance from another source in 2016. This includes buying their own plan.

Stability of health insurance coverage is another important factor in access to health care. A measure of stability is whether a person has been covered continuously for the past 12 months. OHIP asked adults whether there had been any time in the past 12 months when they had been uninsured. In 2016, only 4 percent of Ohio adults who were insured at the time of OHIP had been uninsured at some point in the past 12 months. This is an improvement over 2015, when 10 percent of insured adults had been uninsured sometime in the past 12 months.

The stability of health insurance among young adults also improved. In 2016, only 5 percent of young adults (ages 18-29) reported that they had been uninsured sometime in the past 12 months. This compares with 16 percent of young adults who reported this in 2015.

More information about Ohioans’ insurance coverage and stability of insurance, and other topics, is available at www.interactforhealth.org/ohio-health-issues-poll.

About the Ohio Health Issues Poll

The 2016 Ohio Health Issues Poll (OHIP) is funded by Interact for Health. OHIP was conducted July14-August 5, by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati. A random sample of 863 adults from throughout Ohio was interviewed by telephone. This included 439 landline telephone interviews and 424 cell phone interviews. In 95 of 100 cases, statewide estimates will be accurate to plus or minus 3.3 percent. There are other sources of variation inherent in public opinion studies, such as non-response, question wording, or context effects that can introduce error or bias. For more information about the poll, visit www.interactforhealth.org/ohio-health-issues-poll.