Census reports more Ohioans without insurance

Running counter to national trends, the number of uninsured in Ohio rose in 2007, according to a Census Bureau report released Tuesday, Aug. 26 (Source: “More Ohioans are without insurance,” Dayton Daily News, Aug. 26, 2008).

According to the Census Bureau's annual report on poverty and health insurance coverage, 11.7 percent of Ohioans do not have coverage, up from 10.1 percent in 2006, an increase of 184,000. The results mean Ohio moved from the eighth lowest rate of uninsured residents to 18th. Nationally, the percentage of uninsured dropped from 11 percent to 10.9 percent, or from about 47 million people to 45.7 million people. Massachusetts, which mandated insurance coverage in 2006, had the lowest rate at 5.4 percent. Texas had the highest at 25.2 percent.