ATLANTA — The Southwest has the lowest rate of health insurance coverage in the country, with 30 percent of non-elder adults and 18 percent of children uninsured, according to a new government study.
New England — with a rate of uninsured people less than half that of the Southwest — has the largest proportion of its population covered, the study found.
The study marks the first time the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has compared different regions of the country by health insurance status, said Robin Cohen, the lead researcher.
Cohen declined to theorize why Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma together have higher rates of uninsured people than other parts of the country.
But health-policy expert Ken Thorpe of Atlanta's Emory University said it likely comes from a combination of factors.
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Thorpe said the factors include state policy decisions and the fact that many jobs in the Southwest are service, construction or other jobs without good health benefits.