Current Mississippi insurance issues as of February 2010Mississippi insurance affordability and availability issues are interesting to consider given its perennially low ranking in quality of life surveys.
The name of this state conjures up low expectations, unless you like the Delta Blues. In fact, if Mississippi had a great standard of living, great schools, plenty of jobs, etc., could it have given rise to the blues? True to form, Mississippi does not disappoint. This state ranks third in highest percentage of uninsured residents, right below New Mexico and Texas. The total number of uninsured residents as of October 2009 is around 600,000. One unusual statistic shows that employed Mississippeans are less likely to have health insurance but this is explained by the fact that Mississippi has one of the lowest rates of employer-sponsored insurance in the country. A typical profile of an uninsured Missippi resident would be a 35 year old African-American male. Where this hurts the state is that uninsured typically do not have access to a regular health care provider, drive up costs by going to an emergency room for care that should be done less expensively at a clinic and also tend to have more trouble paying for other basic bills and necessities. Mississippi was expected to pay 581 million dollars in uncompensated care in 2009. This cost is expected to rise to 1.2 billion by 2019.
Do you have a different opinion of health coverage in this state?Health coverage policies and laws obviously can change. If your experience with getting health coverage is different than what is written above, or if you just want to share your experiences with health coverage, please feel free. |