How many Coloradans are going without health insurance? How many have trouble getting an appointment to see a doctor, even with insurance? Where to Coloradans get their health care? How do they use that care?
The important questions are answered and explained in the latest report from the 2013 Colorado Health Access Survey by the Colorado Health Institute.
Some highlights:
The percentage of Coloradans without health insurance in 2013 is 14.3 percent compared with 15.8 percent in 2011 and 13.5 percent in 2009. The 2013 rate is not statistically different from either 2011 or 2009. It is interesting to note that an improving economy has yet to translate into significantly higher levels of health insurance coverage in Colorado.
About 741,000 Coloradans do not have health insurance in 2013 – or one of seven residents.
Employer-sponsored insurance, the backbone of coverage for most Coloradans, has not returned to 2009 levels. That year, 63.7 percent of Coloradans were covered by health insurance obtained through an employer. That percentage fell to 57.8 percent in 2011 and climbed 1.2 percentage points to 59.0 percent in 2013.
Nearly one of five Coloradans has public health insurance. The percentage of Coloradans covered by public insurance programs – Medicare, Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) – was unchanged in 2013 at 17.8 percent after a jump of 3.7 percentage points between 2009 and 2011.
