EAST TEXAS (KYTX) - Texas again led the nation in the percentage of its residents lacking health insurance in the most recent U.S. Census Bureau survey from 2010.
The Small Area Health Insurance Estimates from the U.S. Census provide single-year estimates of health insurance coverage for all 50 states and 3,140 counties in the nation.
At 26.3 percent uninsured, roughly one in four Texans who in 2010 lived in households as much as 2.5 times the poverty level or less did not have health insurance. It marks an increase from 25.7 - the percentage of uninsured Texans in 2008.
In East Texas, Panola County reported the lowest percentage of its residents without health insurance at 22.5 percent, or more than 4,400 residents. At least four in five Panola residents between the ages of 40 and 65 are insured, making it the only East Texas County to attain that feat
The Longview Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area notched lower percentages of insured residents than its counterparts in the Tyler CMSA or micropolitan statistical areas in Lufkin, Nacogdoches and Palestine.
In the Longview CMSA, Gregg, Harrison, Upshur and Rusk counties each reported insured percentages of between 25.4 percent and 25.7 percent. In the Tyler CMSA, Smith County reported 27.2 percent uninsured, and Cherokee County had 30.5 percent uninsured.
Still, as many as 325,000 East Texans in 29 counties did not have health insurance in 2010. About 48,000 of those uninsured East Texans were in Smith County, the study found.
The study was based on demographic population estimates, federal tax returns and Medicare and Medicaid participation records, as well as other sources.
In November 2009, the Huffington Post reported that uninsured patients with traumatic injuries were almost twice as likely to die in the hospital as similarly injured patients with health insurance. Their findings came from Harvard University researchers.
County; Pct. uninsured; No. uninsured
Anderson; 25.6%; 9,722
Angelina; 25.9%; 18,818
Bowie; 22.1%; 16,326
Camp; 28.9%; 2,991
Cass; 22.0%; 5,370
Cherokee; 30.5%; 12,400
Franklin; 25.7%; 2,198
Gregg; 25.7%; 26,251
Harrison; 25.7%; 14,299
Hemphill; 24.8%; 813
Henderson; 28.8%; 18,035
Hopkins; 30.7%; 9,045
Hunt; 25.8%; 18,701
Kaufman; 23.7%; 21,788
Leon; 27.6%; 3,617
Marion; 27.4%; 2,229
Morris; 23.5%; 2,428
Nacogdoches; 28.3%; 14,748
Panola; 22.5%; 4,463
Polk; 29.3%; 9,609
Rains; 29.2%; 2,522
Rusk; 25.4%; 10,419
San Augustine; 27.5%; 1,849
Shelby; 30.6%; 6,525
Smith; 27.2%; 48,073
Titus; 31.9%; 9,049
Trinity; 27.2%; 3,071
Upshur; 25.5%; 8,360
Van Zandt; 27.8%; 11,882
Wood; 27.3%; 8,463
