February 5, 2010: Minnesota released survey results showing that 9.1% of the state's population was uninsured 2009, up significantly from 7.2% in 2007. Much of the increase was due to a decline in employer-sponsored health insurance coverage.
The increase is not a huge surprise, but does underscore the fact that Minnesota has been impacted by the economic downturn and these types of secondary effects from job losses were prominent in 2009. Just a handful of states conduct their own health access surveys and among these states Minnesota is one of the first to release results for 2009. We fully expect similar increases in other states, except perhaps for Massachusetts because of their health insurance coverage mandate. The first national estimates of health insurance coverage in 2009 won't be available until summer of 2010.
The Minnesota Health Access Survey conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health and researchers at SHADAC, led by Kathleen Call. More information is at this link.