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The ABC Data Exchange

Healthcare
and Wellness

The uninsured are often one serious illness or accident away from financial crisis.

Health insurance acts as a protective factor against unexpected healthcare costs that can damage an individual’s or a family’s ability to maintain assets.

Health insurance is provided in two major forms, employer-based health insurance, predominant for adults, and Medicaid and Medicare for those age 65 and over.

The measures on this page highlight levels of employer-provided health insurance and uninsurance rates among residents in Forsyth County.

Literature Review Highlights

 

Even when controlling for income and education, wealth is associated with better self-rated health. [1]

Assets are associated with a reduction in family stress generally. [2]

High debt is associated with mental disorders, and the relationship between debt and mental disorder is much stronger than the relationship between income and mental disorder.  However, the study does not attempt to disentangle which way causation runs: does debt cause mental disorder, do those with mental disorders rack up more debt, or is it a little of both? [3]

Literature Review References

[1] Pollack, C. E., Cubbin, C., Sania, A., Hayward, M., Vallone, D., Flaherty, B., & Braveman, P. A. (2013). Do wealth disparities contribute to health disparities within racial/ethnic groups?. J Epidemiol Community Health, 67(5), 439-445.

[2] Rothwell, D. W., & Han, C. K. (2010). Exploring the relationship between assets and family stress among low‐income families. Family Relations, 59(4), 396-407.

[3] Jenkins, R., Bhugra, D., Bebbington, P., Brugha, T., Farrell, M., Coid, J., … & Meltzer, H. (2008). Debt, income and mental disorder in the general population. Psychological medicine, 38(10), 1485-1493.

Major Findings

Employer-based health insurance rates were lower for Black and Hispanic/Latino residents and residents with lower levels of educational attainment.
Uninsurance rates have decreased significantly since 2011 in Forsyth County, but uninsurance rates remain especially high for residents who have a high school diploma or less and residents who identify as Hispanic/Latino.

Employer-Provided Health Insurance

Although the Affordable Care Act (ACA) expanded access to health insurance for individuals without employer-provided coverage, most American working adults still receive health insurance through their employers [1]. Employer-sponsored plans often have lower upfront costs than individual market plans and may offer broader coverage, though subsidies can make Marketplace plans more affordable for some enrollees [2,3]. View data notes for this measure.

Data Visualization

Employer-Provided Health Insurance (Forsyth County, 2023)

Use the dropdown menu below to view data on different groups.

Key Takeaways

Overall, from 2009 to 2023, the rate of employer-provided health insurance for working adults (ages 18-64) remained stable.

Forsyth County’s rates have ranged between 58% and 64% since 2009.

Major disparities in employer-provided health insurance by race/ethnicity have persisted.

In 2023, 72% of White adults had employer-provided coverage, compared to 61% of Black adults and 43% of Hispanic/Latino adults.

Adults with higher educational attainment were more likely to have employer-provided health insurance.

In 2023, 79%-88% of adults with a Bachelor’s Degree or higher had employer-provided coverage, compared to 41% of those with a high school diploma or less.

Residents with lower household incomes were less likely to have employer-provided health insurance.

Nearly 80% of adults with household incomes greater than $100,000 had insurance through their employer in 2023, compared to 19% with household incomes of $20,000 or less.

Uninsured Individuals

Health insurance provides important protection for a household’s assets by reducing expenses incurred from a medical emergency or the treatment of a chronic illness that might otherwise require a family to spend down long-term savings, sell off assets, or go into debt. In addition, because health insurance coverage encourages people to seek preventive care and treatment for injuries and illnesses, it minimizes the impact a major injury or illness would otherwise have on an individual’s ability to earn income. The uninsured are often one serious illness or accident away from a financial crisis.

While the Affordable Care Act (ACA) significantly reduced the uninsured rate, millions of Americans still lack coverage, including low-income individuals who fall into the coverage gap as a result of some states’ decisions not to expand Medicaid under ACA. Further, repealing the ACA’s individual mandate has made it so there is no longer a financial penalty for not having health insurance coverage [1]. View data notes for this measure.

Data Visualization

Uninsured Individuals (Forsyth County, 2023)

Use the dropdown menu below to view data on different groups.

Key Takeaways

Overall, uninsured rates have decreased significantly over time.

Across all comparison communities, fewer people lacked insurance in 2023 than in 2009. In Forsyth County, the uninsurance rate peaked at 18% in 2011 but declined to 11% in 2023.

Working-age residents had the highest uninsurance rate in 2023.

The uninsurance rate was 16% for adults 18-34 and 14% for those 35-64, while 7% of children under 18 and 2% or less of adults 65 and older were uninsured.

Major disparities were present by race/ethnicity.

In 2023, nearly one-third (31%) of Hispanic/Latino residents were uninsured, compared to 10% of Black residents and 5% of White residents.

Residents with lower educational attainment had the highest uninsurance rates.

In 2023, 24% of residents with a high school diploma or less were uninsured, compared to 12% of those with some college, 9% with an Associate’s Degree, and 3% with a Bachelor’s Degree or higher.

More males (15%) than females (9%) were uninsured in 2023.