Health Insurance Demograpghics

DALLAS, Dec. 22 /PRNewswire/



The latest issue of the Federal Reserve

Bank of Dallas' Southwest Economy examines the demographics of health

insurance coverage in Texas, productivity gains in service industries and the

reason for Mexico's export decline.

In "Who Doesn't Have Health Insurance and Why," economist Anil Kumar notes

that lack of health insurance is on the rise, with 45 million people

nationwide going without coverage sometime during 2003. With the rate of

uninsured running about 10 percent higher than the national average, Texas is

especially affected.

In 2003, 27 percent of Texans were uninsured, Kumar writes, and more than

half of them were Hispanic. The numbers reflect Texas' higher Hispanic

population and may also be due to Hispanics' larger presence at the lower end

of the income distribution and their probability of working for smaller firms

that do not offer health coverage.

Employer-sponsored health insurance is the primary source of coverage in

the United States. Ironically, Kumar says, most of the uninsured are employed

but unable to get health coverage through their job. "Therefore," he

concludes, "the workplace could prove to be an important avenue through which

to reduce the number of uninsured."