Health Briefs
Maine’s Decline in Uninsured Rate is Largest in Nation
A new report from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that Maine’s uninsured rate dropped from 8.0 percent in 2019 to 5.7 percent in 2021. This decline in the uninsured rate is the largest percentage decrease among all states in the nation.
According to the report, 5.7 percent of Maine’s population lacked health insurance in 2021, compared to 8.0 percent in 2019. This represents a drop of 2.3 percentage points, the largest decline of any state, with Idaho a close second. This percentage point change in the uninsured rate translates into a 27 percent decline in the estimated number of uninsured people to 77,639 in 2021. Maine went from having the 26th to 14th lowest uninsured rate in the nation.
Further, as a result of more people having health insurance in Maine, uncompensated care for Maine hospitals fell by $84.1 million between 2018 and 2020, according to information from the Maine Health Data Organization.
This latest report follows an August report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services showing that Maine’s uninsured rate dropped nearly 5 percentage points among those eligible for Medicaid expansion from 2018 to 2020. That was the third largest decline in the nation.
The state has taken many steps in recent years to increase access to health care. Some state efforts on health care access include expanding Medicaid, codifying Affordable Care Act protections such as protections for pre-existing conditions in state law, and establishing the Maine-based health insurance marketplace, CoverME.gov.
