Uninsured Fact Sheet
The Governor's Plan for a Healthier Indiana Uninsured Fact Sheet
The Problem:
- On any given day, there are approximately 561,000 Hoosiers without health insurance. Indiana has experienced a steady increase in the number of uninsured since 2000, a rate of growth that exceeds national average.
- Of this group, approximately 62% are working-age adults with incomes at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (e.g., $40,000 for a family of four). Medicare and Medicaid generally provide coverage for children, the elderly, disabled adults and pregnant women.
- Many Hoosier businesses, especially small companies, have dropped coverage and no longer provide health insurance to their employees.
- From 1999 to 2004, Indiana had the nation’s second highest percentage decline in workers receiving employer-sponsored health insurance.
- Hospitals and other health care providers shift “uncompensated care” costs (costs of providing care for uninsured individuals) back to insured patients and their insurance companies by charging these customers more for services.
- These shifted costs have a significant impact on Hoosiers. Each Indiana family with health insurance paid an additional $953 in premiums in 2005 to cover the cost of the uninsured. By 2010, premiums are expected to be $1,494 higher for families to account for the cost of the uninsured.
- Indiana has one of the highest per capita bankruptcy filing rates in the nation. In the 2007 fiscal year, Indiana had nearly 30,000 total filings. Research estimates that half of all personal bankruptcies in the US are due to medical debt.
- Current government programs to address the uninsured have provided subsidies to hospitals to offset their uncompensated care costs. These programs entitle institutions, but do not incentivize providers to offer quality services and leave the uninsured without a choice of where and how to receive their health care.
- Other programs that directly target the uninsured have unlimited benefits (such as paying for taxi services) and thus, provide no incentive for participants to take responsibility for their health or to utilize health care services as efficiently as possible.
- Hoosiers fall short when it comes to getting their requisite preventive care. They also face many health challenges, which make us an expensive population to insure.
- Women in Indiana receive both mammograms and pap smears at lower rates than the national average.
- 66% of Hoosier men age 50 and older did not have a colonoscopy in the last 5 years. This is six percent more than the national average.
- Indiana ranks 2nd nationally in the percentage of adults who are smokers; over 27% of Hoosier adults are smokers, which is 6.6% higher than the national average.
- Almost 60% of Hoosier adults are obese, and Indiana ranks 10th.nationally in percentage of adults who are overweight/obese.
- The high cost of health care limits Indiana’s economic development efforts as many companies find the price of doing business here too great. This restricts the economic growth of current Hoosier businesses and discourages prevent new businesses from coming to Indiana.
