Uninsured, Poverty on the Rise in Texas in 2009
Author:
Anne Dunkelberg /(512) 320-0222 x 102
September 16, 2010
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The year 2009 definitively shows Texas has the most to gain from the health reform law, as Texas remained the state with the highest uninsured rate in the nation at 26.1 percent, or 6.4 million uninsured people, new Census Bureau data show.
The Bureau also released preliminary state-level data showing that poverty rose substantially in Texas, with 428,000 new Texans joining the ranks of the poor from 2008 to 2009; the state's poverty rate rose to 17.3 percent from 15.9 percent.
The data released today on the Census Bureau's website are preliminary with regard to state poverty levels and the only data available on state health insurance trends since the recession began. On September 28, the Census will release estimates of state and local poverty as well as additional health insurance data from a different survey, the American Community Survey.