State’s uninsured rate put at 8.1%

Bucking nationwide trends, California’s uninsured rate for health insurance remains “stable and low,” according to a UCLA survey.

The uninsured rate was 8.1 percent in 2018, according to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. Researchers credited “a stronger economy and state efforts to mitigate policy changes affecting the private purchase market.”

California’s extended open enrollment period got part of the credit for the relatively low rate. The three-month enrollment period for Covered California-supported health insurance was ensured by passage of Assembly Bill 156. Federal policy changes reduced the enrollment time frame nationwide.

Latino Californians remained most likely to lack insurance, with an 11.5 percent uninsurance rate, compared with non-Latino whites, who were the least likely to lack insurance at 4.7 percent.

The 8.1 percent uninsured rate dropped nearly by half compared with 15.5 percent in 2013, according to the UCLA health brief.

The 2018 edition of the UCLA survey, which included responses from 23,195 children, adolescents and adults, is billed as the nation’s largest state health survey.