More than one-quarter of Ohioans went uninsured at one point in last 2 years

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Data released today from a national advocacy group says more than one in four Ohioans (pdf) for a time went without insurance during the past two years. The bulk of those were without insurance for six months or longer.

The numbers from Families USA mirror some of the other recent estimates. Its report says 28.8 percent of Ohioans younger than 65 were without insurance for some period of time from 2007 to 2008. Of that group, about 71 percent went without insurance for more than six months.

Thirty percent of Ohioans went without health insurance for all or part of last year, according to the August edition of The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati’s Ohio Health Issues Poll (pdf). The 2008 Ohio Family Health Survey says more than 1.3 million are without insurance.

Ohio’s numbers from Families USA are slightly better than the national average. Nationwide one in every three Americans (33.1 percent) went without insurance from 2007 to 2008, according to its report. These figures are meant to supplement U.S. Census data that focuses on the current number of uninsured, which stands at about 17 percent of the population.

Today’s Families USA report also stated that 75.8 percent of Ohio’s uninsured were members of families that include full- or part-time workers. Also, half of individuals and families that made twice the poverty level went without health insurance in the past two years.