The percentage of people under 65 who are not covered by some form of health insurance, including public programs such as Medicaid and Medicare.
Health insurance is critical to families' and individuals' access to care, financial security and peace of mind. Those without insurance may delay getting needed care and forgo preventive care altogether, which can lead to medical problems that are more serious and expensive to treat. Insurance allows the often-high cost of health services to be spread out over many years and facilitates risk-sharing across the population. Financial ruin can be the result if an uninsured family must cope with a major illness or injury. In addition, charity care provided by hospitals to those without insurance drives up the cost of private insurance and the tax burden.
In 2020, 5% of the region's residents under the age of 65 were without health insurance, the same as the statewide (excluding NYC) rate of 5%, and below the 10% national rate. The region's rate improved by about 8 percentage points from 2008, slightly above the national improvement of about 7 points and the state improvement of 6 points. Columbia, Greene, Sullivan and Ulster counties were on the higher end of rates of uninsured residents (6%) in 2020. Putnam had the lowest rate, at 4%.
Comparable data not available for earlier years.
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region | 13% | 12% | 12% | 12% | 11% | 11% | 8% | 7% | 6% | 6% | 5% | 5% | 5% |
| Columbia County | 13% | 13% | 13% | 12% | 12% | 11% | 9% | 7% | 6% | 6% | 6% | 6% | 6% |
| Dutchess County | 12% | 11% | 11% | 11% | 11% | 9% | 8% | 6% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 5% |
| Greene County | 15% | 14% | 13% | 12% | 11% | 11% | 9% | 7% | 6% | 6% | 6% | 5% | 6% |
| Orange County | 13% | 12% | 12% | 12% | 11% | 10% | 8% | 6% | 6% | 6% | 5% | 5% | 5% |
| Putnam County | 10% | 8% | 10% | 9% | 9% | 9% | 7% | 6% | 5% | 5% | 4% | 4% | 4% |
| Sullivan County | 16% | 15% | 16% | 14% | 14% | 14% | 11% | 9% | 7% | 7% | 6% | 6% | 6% |
| Ulster County | 14% | 13% | 13% | 13% | 13% | 13% | 9% | 8% | 6% | 7% | 6% | 6% | 6% |
| NYS (excluding NYC) | 11% | 11% | 12% | 11% | 10% | 10% | 8% | 6% | 6% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 5% |
| U.S. | 17% | 17% | 18% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 14% | 11% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 11% | 10% |
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region | 122,006 | 113,807 | 114,274 | 108,746 | 106,227 | 99,751 | 78,450 | 61,613 | 53,829 | 52,654 | 48,926 | 47,140 | 47,949 |
| Columbia County | 6,616 | 6,240 | 6,714 | 5,912 | 5,824 | 5,368 | 4,268 | 3,408 | 2,991 | 2,775 | 2,597 | 2,524 | 2,646 |
| Dutchess County | 27,732 | 25,965 | 26,251 | 25,275 | 25,030 | 22,257 | 19,181 | 14,530 | 12,198 | 12,351 | 11,717 | 12,124 | 10,605 |
| Greene County | 5,847 | 5,161 | 4,892 | 4,370 | 4,149 | 3,839 | 3,156 | 2,441 | 2,001 | 1,950 | 1,921 | 1,687 | 1,881 |
| Orange County | 43,020 | 40,596 | 38,369 | 37,563 | 35,101 | 33,601 | 26,102 | 20,735 | 19,544 | 18,227 | 17,380 | 15,775 | 17,206 |
| Putnam County | 8,582 | 6,885 | 8,472 | 7,778 | 7,875 | 7,566 | 6,069 | 4,559 | 3,959 | 4,031 | 3,426 | 3,369 | 3,430 |
| Sullivan County | 9,954 | 9,048 | 10,061 | 9,089 | 8,699 | 9,011 | 6,580 | 5,260 | 4,087 | 3,883 | 3,646 | 3,685 | 3,808 |
| Ulster County | 20,255 | 19,912 | 19,515 | 18,759 | 19,549 | 18,109 | 13,094 | 10,680 | 9,049 | 9,437 | 8,239 | 7,976 | 8,373 |
| NYS (excluding NYC) | 1,026,108 | 1,013,688 | 1,075,475 | 1,002,791 | 964,717 | 942,286 | 731,397 | 588,096 | 504,108 | 483,612 | 437,549 | 433,509 | 430,681 |
| U.S. | 42,872,798 | 45,041,840 | 46,556,803 | 45,725,535 | 44,960,046 | 44,477,970 | 36,013,970 | 29,165,227 | 26,749,668 | 27,423,485 | 27,954,329 | 28,980,723 | 27,895,218 |
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