BATON ROUGE, La. - According to the 2019 Louisiana Health Insurance Survey, Louisiana remains below the national average for the percentage of uninsured adults between 19 and 64, and below the national average for the percentage of uninsured children. The 2019 survey was completed by the Economics and Policy Research Group of the LSU E.J. Ourso College of Business and has been conducted every two years since 2003.
According to the survey, Louisiana has maintained an uninsured rate of 5% or less among children from birth to 19 years old for more than a decade. Since 2009, the percentage of uninsured children has dipped from 5% to 3.8% in 2019, albeit a slight increase from the 2.4% uninsured rate reported in 2017. The increase from 2017 to 2019 follows national trends but is still below the national average.
The survey also finds that the uninsured rate for Louisiana adults continues to decline. Since Medicaid Expansion in July 2016, the uninsured rate among adults reduced from 22.7% in 2015 to 11.4% in 2017. The 2019 survey reported an adult uninsured rate of 11.1%.
Medicaid was the greatest source of health insurance coverage for children in 2019, covering 51.1%, followed by employer-sponsored health insurance, covering 40.8% of Louisiana children. The opposite was true for uninsured adults in Louisiana. More than 50% of adults were covered by employer-sponsored health insurance, while 26.5% of adults benefitted from coverage through Medicaid.
The survey also states that Medicaid expansion, in conjunction with other coverage efforts such as the Federal Marketplace, has substantially reduced the racial disparity in insurance coverage in Louisiana. Historically, uninsured rates are lower among white adults than among Black adults. However, the survey shows the uninsured rate of Black adults was 10.2% and the uninsured rate of white adults was 11.1%.
“We are proud of our work to provide healthcare services that improve the lives of so many Louisiana residents,” said Dr. Courtney N. Phillips, Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health. “While the rate of uninsured children did rise slightly from 2017, we are committed to ensuring it does not become a trend. Through innovative outreach methods including the online Self Service Portal, where applicants and members can apply for and manage their Medicaid coverage, we will continue to do everything we can to ensure all Louisianans have access to healthcare coverage.”
Insurance coverage in Louisiana was assessed by interviewing more than 8,500 Louisiana households using phone and internet surveys to provide the data represented in the report.
Click here to view the 2019 Louisiana Health Insurance Survey or previously published reports since 2003.
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