Findings Part of Release of Wide Range of New CHIS 2015 Data on the Health of Californians
Los Angeles, Dec. 14, 2016 Californians who were historically unable to afford health insurance those with low incomes and people of color benefited significantly from health coverage expansion policies under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, according to new
Findings Part of Release of Wide Range of New CHIS 2015 Data on the Health of Californians
2016 — Californians who were historically unable to afford health insurance —
those with low incomes and people of color — benefited significantly from
health coverage expansion policies under the Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act, according to new 2015 California Health Interview Survey data
released today.
The new CHIS data, which
are accompanied by a fact sheet on insurance trends, show the
overall rate of uninsured Californians fell to a new low in 2015: 9.5 percent
— the first time the rate has dropped to less than 10 percent since data have
been collected.
And declines in rates of those who are uninsured
were most pronounced among the state’s poorest residents ages 0 to 64, dropping
by nearly 10 percentage points between 2013 and 2015, to 12.8 percent. Declines
were also more pronounced for most racial and ethnic groups, with rates of
those who are uninsured falling nearly 7 percentage points among
Asian-Americans and African-Americans, and 6.5 percentage points among Latinos.
CHIS, the nation’s largest state health survey,
surveyed 21,444 households in 2015, including 21,034 adults, 754 teens and
2,157 children. [A noon seminar will describe new features
of CHIS 2015.]
In addition to updated insurance estimates,
respondents answered questions on hundreds of new and updated health topics
ranging from discrimination in getting medical care to chronic disease
management, to resiliency among teens.
Of note: For the first time, CHIS, in
partnership with the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law,
measured the size of the transgender and gender-nonconforming population in
California, making it one of the few state-level health surveys featuring this
population. In 2015, about 64,000 adults ages 18 to 70 (0.25 percent of the
population) were estimated to be transgender or gender non-conforming, and
about 133,000 Californian youth ages 12 to 17 (about 4.5 percent of the youth
population) were estimated to express their gender in a
“non-conforming” way (e.g., boys who act or dress mostly or very
feminine, and girls who act or dress mostly or very masculine). Researchers can
request more detailed data on both adults and teens through the Data Access Center.
The survey also asked important new or updated
questions about discrimination in a health care setting, dental care,
mammography and much more.
Read the related fact
sheet: Growth in Medi-Cal in 2015 Fueled Unprecedented Drop in
California’s Uninsured Rate
Read an interview with
CHIS Director Todd Hughes: “CHIS always tries to be responsive to the latest
research questions and health challenges.”
