The New York Times recently mappedAmerica’s uninsured. And when you view the map as a whole, clear regional patterns are emerging about who has health insurance in America and who still doesn’t. The remaining uninsured are primarily in the South and the Southwest. They tend to be poor people who live in Republican-leaning states. Texas and Oklahoma are particularly dark on the map, showing large rates of uninsured. Likewise, southwest Kansas has high uninsured rates. Colorado, which chose to expand Medicaid, fares much better on the map.
Meanwhile, in the Northeast and upper Midwest, uninsured rates have fallen into the single digits. Many of America’s uninsured fall into a “Medicaid gap.” These people are unable to benefit from Obamacare programs because of their low incomes and local politicians’ decisions to forgo Medicaid expansion.
The refusal of Medicaid funds in a state is the best predictor of whether a state will have more citizens with no insurance.
