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Central Pennsylvania sees uptick in health insurance coverage
Listen to this articleThe rate of Central Pennsylvanians under age 65 without health insurance fell between 2020 and 2021, according to data released by the Census Bureau.
That follows the trend nationwide, where the rate of uninsured decreased in 280 U.S. counties while increasing in just 80 counties, helped by Medicaid expansion and other pandemic-era relief initiatives. The new numbers come from the Small Area Health Insurance Estimates program, the only source for single-year estimates of people with health insurance in each of the nation’s 3,142 counties.
From 2020 to 2021, uninsured rates dropped in Lancaster County from 14% to 11.3%; in Perry County from 13.2% to 9.2%; in Lebanon County from 10.3% to 8%; in Dauphin County from 8.9% to 6.8%; in Adams County from 8% to 7.6%; in York County from 7.4% to 6.3%; and in Cumberland County from 7.4% to 6.1%.
The rate of Pennsylvanians under 65 without health insurance declined from 7.7% in 2020 to 6.7% in 2021.
At 11.3%, Lancaster holds the highest uninsured rate of any county in the state.
Donald B. Kraybill, senior fellow emeritus at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College, wrote in an email that “lower health insurance rates in the Lancaster region (includes parts of Berks County, York County and Chester County) are likely lower because of the Amish, horse and buggy driving (Old Order) Menno(nite) and Plain-dressing car-driving conservative Mennonite populations that are self-insured through church-related programs.”
Other highlights from the SAHIE data:
· Estimated county uninsured rates ranged from 2.4% to 46.3%, with a median county rate of 10.4%.
· The Northeast and Midwest had the nation’s largest share of counties with low (under 10.0%) uninsured rates, and the South had the largest share with high (above 15.0%) uninsured rates.
Paula Wolf is a freelance writer
