Current Utah insurance issues as of February 2010Utah insurance issues of affordability and availability seem to be tempered by the health habits that are a part of this state's culture.
I guess that strict Mormon living must pay off. This state is near tops in the country for many health categories. They are best in the country in lack of prevalence of smoking, binge drinking, infant mortality and cancer deaths. They are second best in levels of improverished children, preventable hospitalizations and 3rd in cardiovascular deaths. They are in the top ten in categories such as violent crime, obesity, infectious disease, and premature deaths. The rare failures are 45th in numbers of primary care physicians and they could do better in numbers of uninsured children. They are only 24th
in percentage of residents insured which, while not bad, is quite suprising. Since there's nothing remarkable about the programs this state offers to keep its residents insured, it's a testament to what a healthy lifestyle can do. Even so, premiums increased 98 percent from 2000 to 2009, while median earnings rose only 23 percent. It will be interesting to follow how well this state's healthy habits match up against a decreasing
rate of coverage.
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. |