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 2001, over 87% of Maine citizens 18 years old and older had health care insurance. This is just above the national level of 86.7% 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.