Many in County Remain Uninsured, Survey Finds

Despite modest improvements in health insurance coverage, nearly one in three adults and one in five children in Los Angeles County are uninsured--one of the worst records in the nation, according to a new survey by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.

Thirty-one percent of adults under age 65 were uninsured in 1999, compared with 34% in 1997, according to the telephone survey of approximately 8,000 households. Because of growth in the county’s population, however, the number of uninsured adults held relatively steady at 1.9 million people.

Among children, the proportion of uninsured dropped from 25% to 20% in the same two-year period, an improvement officials attributed to increased enrollment in both public and private plans. The state has stepped up efforts to cover children through the Medi-Cal and Healthy Families programs serving poor families, and the booming economy may have led to some increase in job-based coverage of dependents.

“It’s still very sad to see that we have over 570,000 children uninsured,” said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of public health for the county.

Overall, he said, “it’s a dismal picture. These are dire circumstances, and they come at a time of unprecedented expansion in the economy. . . . What is it likely to be when we have the next economic downturn?”

The percentage of uninsured adults remains highest among Latinos and people living in poverty.

Nearly half of Latino adults are uninsured, compared with a quarter of Asians and Pacific Islanders and about a fifth of African Americans and whites. The low level of coverage among Latinos is partly the result of their concentration in low-wage jobs that do not offer insurance benefits. And some adults--fearful of the system or of immigration problems--are reluctant to apply even when they or their children would qualify.

Twenty-nine percent of Latino children were uninsured--compared with 12% of Asians and Pacific Islanders, 8% of whites and 7% of African Americans.