Findings from: No Health Insurance? It's Enough to Make You Sick. Uninsured Women At Risk

  • Since 1990, the proportion of uninsured women has grown at a faster rate than the total uninsured population. Between 1990 and 1999, the proportion of uninsured women increased by 16.8 percent while the total uninsured population increased by 11.5 percent and the proportion of uninsured men increased by 7.1 percent.
  • Roughly one in five working-age women (17.7 percent) is uninsured.
  • Only 50.7 percent of African-American and 43 percent of Hispanic women, compared with 63.7 percent of white women, are covered by employer-based insurance.
  • Low-income women are 2.4 times more likely to be uninsured than the general population of women (35 percent compared with 14.6 percent) and 3 times more likely than non-poor women to be uninsured (35 percent compared with 12 percent).
  • Uninsured women aged 18 to 64 are up to 5 times more likely to report no regular source of care compared to insured women.
  • Uninsured women are less likely than insured women (publicly and privately insured) to have received a recent cholesterol check (29 percent compared with 44 percent).
  • Uninsured women are less likely to have had a recent mammogram (30 percent compared with 50 percent for insured women), less likely to have completed a clinical breast exam (49 percent compared with 66 percent), and less likely to have had a Pap test than insured women (49 percent compared with 64 percent).
  • Uninsured women are 2.3 times more likely never to have had a mammogram (28 percent compared with 12 percent), 2.4 times more likely never to have had a clinical breast exam (12 percent compared with 5 percent), and 2.7 times more likely never to have had a Pap test than insured women (8 percent compared with 3 percent).
  • Uninsured women aged 18 to 64 (uninsured for more than one year) were 5.3 times more likely than insured women (both publicly and privately insured) to report being unable to see a physician when needed in the past year.
  • Uninsured females aged 1 to 17 experience up to 2.6 times greater risk of in-hospital death than all insured patients.
  • Uninsured women with breast cancer, compared with privately insured women with the disease, have a higher adjusted risk of death. (Uninsured women aged 35 to 49 have a 57 percent higher adjusted risk of death. Uninsured women aged 50 to 64 have a 43 percent higher adjusted risk of death. Overall uninsured women aged 35 to 64 have a 49 percent higher adjusted risk of death.)
  • Uninsured pregnant women, compared with insured pregnant women, are less likely to have initiated prenatal care in the first trimester, 3 times more likely to report receiving less than 80 percent of the recommended number of prenatal visits, and have a 31 percent higher likelihood of an adverse hospital outcome.