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More Coloradans have health insurance despite increasing poverty, demonstrating safety net’s value

Data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau show increasing poverty in Colorado and a simultaneous decrease in the number of people lacking health insurance. That demonstrates the importance of safety-net programs such as Medicaid, which has accommodated dramatically rising enrollment since the Great Recession began in December 2007. Because of small sample sizes, the data are presented as two-year averages, diminishing the magnitude of changes. More detailed state data will be available later this month. A snapshot of the figures for Colorado:

Key health insurance facts

  • The share of people lacking health insurance in Colorado, known as the state’s rate of “uninsurance,” decreased 2.4 percent from 2006-07 to 2009-10. That includes a 5.1 percent decrease in the rate of uninsurance for children.
  • Medicaid has played a key role in expanding health coverage, increasing enrollment to an additional 4 percent of the state’s population since 2006-07 and to an additional 7.2 percent since the beginning of the decade.

Key income and poverty facts

  • Colorado’s poverty rate for 2009-10 was 12.3 percent, an increase of 2.5 percent since 2006-07. That means an estimated 617,000 Coloradans are in families with incomes at or below the federal poverty level of $10,890 for an individual or $22,350 for a family of four.
  • The poverty rate grew for the decade as a whole, increasing 3.2 percent between 1999-2000 and 2009-10.
  • Median household income decreased by $4,356 since 2007-08 to $58,647 in 2009-10.

Contact: Danny Rheiner
Rice Fellow, Health Care Program
303-573-5669, ext. 319

Released Sept. 13, 2011

 

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