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How many people in the Tampa Bay area lack health insurance?

Posted Jul 27, 2010 by Jeff Scullin

Updated Jul 27, 2010 at 02:58 PM

How many people have lost their insurance in the ongoing recession? We should have a better answer to that question in September, when the U.S. Census Bureau releases health insurance coverage estimates from the 2009 American Community Survey. But the numbers released today, from 2007, are pretty stark—especially considering they’re a snapshot from before the local housing market went in the tank.

Between 20 and 25 percent of people 65 and younger in Hillsborough, Pasco, Polk, Sarasota, Hernando and Citrus counties were without health insurance. The numbers were much worse in rural DeSoto and Hardee counties, where more than 30 percent of that group was without health insurance.

The numbers released today—the Small Area Health Insurance Estimates from 2007—will serve as a base number for that comparison we’ll do in September. Right now, those are the only source for estimates of health insurance coverage status for every county in the nation.

The ACS numbers should provide more timely information through its annual survey of larger counties and population areas. A question about health insurance was added in 2008 to enable the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to better understand state and local health insurance needs.  Eventually, the ACS will have health insurance coverage data for smaller areas from its three- and five-year surveys.

Here are the 2007 numbers of uninsured people 65 and younger in the Tampa Bay area:

Citrus: 22,543 (23 percent of people younger than 65)
DeSoto: 9,801 (37 percent)
Hardee: 7,712 (33 percent)
Hernando: 26,184 (21 percent)
Highlands: 19,468 (29 percent)
Hillsborough: 217,661 (21 percent)
Manatee: 57,669 (24 percent)
Pasco: 75,761 (20 percent)
Pinellas: 138,038 (19 percent)
Polk: 102,062 (22 percent)
Sarasota: 65,626 (25 percent)