Minorities disproportionately represented in health care 'coverage gap'
Minorities disproportionately represented in health care 'coverage gap'
By Tony Pugh
McClatchy Washington Bureau
December 17, 2013
Washington — New data from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that minorities will make up 53 percent of the estimated 4.8 million low-income Americans who will fall into the "coverage gap," leaving them without viable options to obtain health insurance next year.
In the 25 states that won't expand eligibility for the Medicaid program, many adults earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to qualify for tax credits that would help them purchase marketplace insurance.
That puts them into the bureaucratic no-man's land known as the "coverage gap."
According to Kaiser, minorities makeup about 2.6 million of people in the gap, 27 percent of whom are black.
Hispanics account for 21 percent, while 5 percent are from other races. Whites account for 47 percent of people in the gap.
Additional demographic breakdowns show 76 percent of those in the gap are adults without dependent children, 60 percent come from a working family and while 49 percent are women.
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