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The U.S. Census Current Population Survey (CPS) reported that 83.2% of Arizona residents (based on total population estimates) had some type of health care coverage in 2002 (up from 75.5% in 1997).[1] Health care coverage includes both private insurance and publicly funded health care options (e.g., Medicaid, Medicare, Veteran Affairs, TRICARE, and Indian Health Service). The percentage figure given excludes those who received care from various safety net providers, such as Federally Qualified Community Health Centers, rural health clinics, free or low cost clinics, school-based health clinics, public health clinics, and uncompensated care provided by hospitals and physicians.
National statistics for the total population, from 1997 to 2002, indicate a consistently higher percentage of health care coverage for the U.S. as a whole than for Arizona. Figure 1 describes the trends for selected health care coverage programs in Arizona from 1997 to 2002.
Figure 1. Selected Health Care Coverage Program Estimates
in Arizona: 1997-2002*
Source: U. S. Census Bureau: Health Insurance Historical Table 4
*Revised Census Numbers for 1999 and 2000
The U.S. Census Bureau website provides state and national health care coverage comparison data at http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthins.html.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reported that U.S. health care expenditures reached $1.6 trillion (an average of $5,440 per person) in 2002, up 9.3 % from 2001[2]. This figure represents 14.9% of the national gross domestic product (GDP), which measures the market value of goods and services produced by labor and property located within a country. In the private sector, of the 54% expended ($839.6 billion), $549.6 billion (65.5%) was spent on private health insurance premiums. Consumer out-of-pocket expenditures accounted for another 14% of the total health expenditures. Forty-six percent of U.S. health expenditures were paid by the public sector ($713.4 billion: Medicare - 17%, Medicaid -16%, and other public programs - 13%).
References
1. U.S. Census Bureau (2004). Health Insurance Historical Table 4. Retrieved on August 21, 2004 from the U.S. Census Bureau on the World Wide Web:
http://www.census.gov/hhes/hlthins/historic/hihistt4.html.
2. Cowan, C., Catlin, A., Smith, C., and Sensenig, A. (2004) National Expenditures, 2002. Health Care Financing Review, 25 (4), 143-166.
3. Arizona Health Care Cost Containment, Division of Member Services, HealthCare Group.
4. Arizona Health Care Cost Containment (2004). Acute and ALTCS Enrollment Summary Report (ID# HP07M078 / Program # HP07L078) 2001-2002.
5. Arizona Health Care Cost Containment, Division of Member Services, KidsCare.
6. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2004). Retrieved on October 6, 2004 from Medicare on the World Wide Web: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/statistics/enrollment/county 2000-2002.
7. Indian Health Service. (2001). Retrieved on September 30, 2001, from IHS on the
World Wide Web: http://www.ihs.gov.
8. U.S. Department of Defense.
9. TRICARE. (2001). Retrieved on September 30,2001, from the World Wide Web:
http://www.tricare.osd.mil.
10. Veterans Affairs, Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center.
11. Lewin, M. and Atman, S. (1999). America’s Health Care Safety Net: Intact but Endangered. Institute of Medicine. pp. 1-57.
12. William M. Mercer, Inc. (2001). Faces of the Uninsured and State Strategies to Meet
Their Needs: A Briefing Paper. Prepared for the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment
System.
13. Brown, E.R., Ojeda, V.D., Wyn, R., and Levan, R. (2000). Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Access to Health Insurance and Health Care. A Publication of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
14. The Gallup Organization. (2001). Healthcare in a Changing Environment: Arizona’s
Sixth Annual Gallup Healthcare Poll 1995-96. Sponsored by Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association.
15. The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. (2001). Fast Facts.
Washington, DC: The Kaiser Family Foundation.
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