The Census Bureau has released figures today showing that 15.5% of Americans are without health insurance, a very slight .5% increase over the prior year. Here are the states registering a 19% or greater number of those without health insurance: Arizona (19.6%), Florida (20.7%), Louisiana (20.2%), Mississippi (19.8%), New Mexico (22.7%), Texas (24.8%), States with 1 million people or more without insurance are (in millions): Arizona (1.219), California (6.72), Florida (3.698), Georgia (1.658), Illinois (1.735), Michigan (1.075), New Jersey (1.318), New York (2.551), North Carolina (1.469), Ohio (1.249), Pennsylvania (1.203), Texas (5.687). and Virginia (1.031). Of those the following have rates above the national average: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas. Those states alone account for 44.6% of the uninsured while making up just 34.4% of the total population of the United States.
A fundamental principle of optimization is to optimize where there’s something to optimize. At least to me that suggests that you get the most bang for the buck by solving the problem of the uninsured in just a handful of states.
7.8% of people in households making over $75,000 were uninsured last year. Why? Do they have expensive pre-conditions? Do they pocket the money and bear the risk?
I also note that some of the key battleground states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota have some of the highest insurance coverage rates in the country (to a lesser extent Ohio and Michigan as well)
(Could be age?)