Oklahoma’s uninsured rate has crept lower under the Affordable Care Act, but it remains among the highest in the nation.
Just four states have higher uninsured rates than Oklahoma’s 15.36 percent. That’s down from 2010, but still above the national average of 11.7 percent. WalletHub used Census Bureau data to analyze uninsured rates, and analyst Jill Gonzalez said there’s a marked difference between states that expanded Medicaid and those that did not.
"We saw that those states have an average uninsured rate of about 3 to 4 percent higher than those states that have expanded Medicaid, so I think that's certainly part of the problem," Gonzalez said.
The uninsured rate varies widely between whites and blacks and Hispanics in Oklahoma.
"The uninsured rate for whites is about 32 percent lower than that for blacks," Gonzalez said. "Even worse, it's about 62 percent lower than that for Hispanics."
While 110,000 Oklahomans have acquired health insurance since the Affordable Care Act took effect, 581,000 people are still uninsured. The uninsured is much higher among low-income Oklahomans.
"The uninsured rate for higher-income households is 70 percent lower than that for lower-income households," Gonzalez said. "I think that's a lot of not expanding through Medicaid."
While Oklahoma has the fifth-highest overall uninsured rate in WalletHub’s analysis, it has the fourth-highest uninsured rate among low-income households and the fourth-largest gap between low- and high-income households.
The third enrollment period for coverage under the Affordable Care Act began Nov. 1. Dec. 15 is the deadline to get insurance effective Jan. 1.
