With President George W. Bush set to visit Chattanooga Wednesday to discuss his proposal to increase access to health insurance, the Community Research Council (CRC), a Chattanooga-based non-profit policy and research organization, on Tuesday released a primer on Hamilton County’s uninsured population and the possible impact of the President’s plan on local residents who are uninsured.
The report, The Unisured in Hamilton County, Tennessee, is based on data collected in an April 2006 survey of Hamilton County residents conducted for CRC by The Mellman Group. In addition, the report includes information from CRC’s on-going research on the State’s TennCare program.
Highlights of the report include:
One in five Hamilton County adults were uninsured during the prior year
Hamilton County’s uninsured are disproportionately low income, African American, younger, non-college graduates
Three-quarters of Hamilton County’s uninsured have family incomes of $39,000 or less: almost one-third have family incomes less than $20,000
More than one-third of uninsured adults in Hamilton County lacked insurance for employment-related reasons
Among insured adults, 58% have employer-based health insurance
Between 2004 and 2005, charity and indigent care costs at Hamilton County hospitals increased from $34 million to $56.1 million
Two-thirds of Hamilton County adults strongly agree with a requirement that all employers provide their employees with health insurance
Funding for CRC’s research on TennCare has been provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through AcademyHealth. Survey research was funded as part of CRC’s 2006 State of Chattanooga Region Report (SOCRR) by the Lyndhurst Foundation, Benwood Foundation, Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga, United Way of Greater Chattanooga, the Public Education Foundation and First Tennessee.