Only 7 Percent Of Californians Lack Health Insurance, National Study Says

A new study indicates that almost 29 million Americans lack health insurance — a big improvement compared to nearly 49 million in 2010.

Californians are better covered than most of the nation. Texas comes in last, with 20 percent having no health insurance, according to the latest findings by the National Center for Health Statistics.

In California, that number is 7 percent.

Lani Schiff-Ross heads Covered California in San Joaquin County, which helps people sign up for insurance through the Affordable Care Act and Medi-Cal. She says record numbers have signed up this year for insurance, and the difference between Texas and California is that our state accepted Medicaid expansion and Texas did not.

She described “more growth than we anticipated for the expanded Medi-Cal,” and that Covered California is “thrilled that people have insurance and can access health care which we think is a basic right for human beings.”

The study also showed that adult Hispanics were the largest ethnic group without insurance at 27 percent. The group with the best coverage was children: less than 5 percent without insurance.