Just-released figures show uninsured by county, age, income

People in Logan, Magoffin, Casey, Todd, Menifee, Adair, Monroe, Edmonson and McCreary counties are more likely to lack health insurance than residents of other Kentucky counties, according to the data just released from the Bureau of the Census. And children are least likely to be insured in Todd, Monroe, Lyon, Edmonson, Webster, Hickman, Logan, Trigg, Woodford and Breckinridge counties.

Example of interactive mapping shows data for Logan County, highest in percentage of uninsured

According to the Census Bureau’s Small Area Health Insurance Estimates , 22.3 percent of Logan County residents had no health insurance in 2011. Because of small sample sizes in the poll, the error margin for each county’s figure is plus or minus 2 percentage points, approximately. The figures are for people under 65, who do not qualify for Medicare. Other counties with 20 percent or more uninsured, in descending order, are Magoffin, Casey, Todd, Menifee, Adair, Monroe, Edmonson, McCreary, Lewis, Metcalfe, Clinton, Breckinridge, Cumberland, Rowan, Gallatin, Butler, Robertson and Graves.

The maps are especially topical because enrollment in the state health-insurance exchange begins Oct. 1. An interactive tool allows users to map and rank counties by various factors. A little clicking reveals that Todd County, on the western border of Logan, probably has the highest percentage of children without health insurance, 10.3 percent, plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. To show county data, limit the geography to Kentucky and check the Show Counties box.

The data are from 2011, the latest year available. The figures can also be sliced by income levels: less than 138 percent of the federal poverty line, the new eligibility threshold for Medicaid in Kentucky and other states that have expanded it under the federal health-reform law; and less than 400 percent of the poverty line, the threshold for subsidies for insurance policies that the insurance exchange will offer.