Oxford News

The number of uninsured Americans declined in 2007 but climbed enough in Ohio to drop the Buckeye state to 18th in the nation for the number of residents with health insurance, a 10-place drop from 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Tuesday, Aug. 26.

Of the stateÕs 11.5 million residents, 11.7 percent lack health insurance, up from 10.1 percent in 2006, according to the report, titled "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2007." That's an increase of 184,000 from 2006.

The new figures, based on a statistical sample, move the Buckeye state to 18th in the nation for the lowest uninsured rate, a 10-place drop from 2006, the report shows.

Industry watchers say they're not surprised by the numbers, given Ohio's economy and moves in recent years to tighten eligibility standards for Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for the poor and disabled.

"With the continued job challenges Ohio is having and with a lot of jobs leaving from sectors that traditionally provide health insurance ... we've been worried as to what the data might show," said Bill Hayes, executive director of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Health Policy Institute of Ohio.

One poll shows the Ohio numbers are actually worse. The 2008 Ohio Health Issues Poll found nearly one in five Ohioans, or 19 percent, ages 18-64 did not have health insurance when they were polled earlier this year by The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, the group reported this month.

Census officials attribute the overall decline in the uninsured to the rising number of children enrolled in government health insurance programs such as Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP.

The percentage of children covered by such programs increased to 31 percent in 2007, from 29.8 percent in 2006.

Massachusetts, which in 2006 mandated that its residents carry health insurance, had the lowest uninsured rate in the country at 5.4 percent. Texas had the highest at 25.2 percent.