Health Care Coverage in 2002

Health insurance is vital to ensuring that people get adequate health care. The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) asks two questions about health care coverage in Delaware.

The first question is, "Do you have any kind of health care coverage, including health insurance, prepaid plans such as HMOs, or government plans such a Medicare?

Among Delawareans between the ages of 18 and 64, about 10.4% did not have health care coverage in 2002. Adults 65 and older are not included in that estimate because they are covered by Medicare. Among all Delaware adults, 8.8% were uninsured.
Young adults were most likely to be uninsured – about 20% of 18-24 year olds did not have coverage. This is a group which may no longer be covered by their parents' insurance, and who are often not eligible for health care coverage by their employers.
African American adults (12.8%) were significantly less likely to have health care coverage than non-Hispanic whites (7.6%). Hispanic adults (21.3%) were least likely to have health insurance.
More men (12%) age 18-64 were without health care coverage than women (9%), but it was not a statistically significant difference.

Respondents were also asked: "Was there a time in the past 12 months when you needed medical care, but could not get it?"

About 5% of all Delaware adults said there was a time they needed medical care, but could not get it. Again, young adults (12%) were most likely to answer "yes" to this question. Hispanics (13.8%) and African Americans (7%) were more likely to answer "yes" than non-Hispanic whites (4.4%).
Almost twice as many women (6.5%) than men (3.8%) reported not getting needed medical care during the past year.

Health Care Coverage,
All Adults By County
	State	Kent	New Castle	Sussex
No Insurance	8.8%	9.8%	7.4%	12.2%
Unable To Get Needed Care	5.2%	5.4%	5.1%	5.6%

Source: Delaware Health and Social Services, Division of Public Health, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), 2002.

Health Care Coverage in 2002

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