Indicator: 58 - Health Care Coverage
Why This Is Important
People with inadequate or no health insurance often forego routine
preventive care. Some health problems may not be treated until they
become more serious. This adds tremendous cost to an already costly
health care system, and can add stress to families' lives. Parents
who are physically ill or suffer from an untreated mental illness
do not function well as parents to their children.
Where We Stand
For 2000, over 86% of Maine citizens 18 years old and older had
health care insurance. This is just below the national level of
88% for the same year. The trend for this indicator appears flat
for this five-year time period.
Data Sources and Context
The data source for this indicator is the Behavioral Risk Factor
Surveillance System, which is administered and supported by the
Division of Adult and Community Health, National Center for Chronic
Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC). Prevalence and trend data is available
on-line at http://www.cdc.gov/brfss.
Surveillance data comes from a series of monthly telephone interviews
with a sample of adults in each state. The U.S. data in the chart
are the median value of the 50 state results in each year.
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