MCDC News and Updates

Category: Missouri

Map of the Month

Hospital Availability and Uninsured Population in Missouri

Posted on by glenn

In March 2015, the U.S. Census released the 2013 data collected by the Small Area Health Insurance Estimates Program (SAHIE). The SAHIE data is a valuable reference that provides annual estimates of health insurance coverage for every county in the United States. The 2013 SAHIE data is of particular interest, as that was the last round collected before the first enrollment period of the Affordable Care Act.

Hospital availability and estimated uninsured population in Missouri, 2013

Based on the SAHIE 2013 county-level data, the percentage of uninsured working adults aged 18-64 in Missouri ranged from a low of 11.6% in St. Charles County to a high of 29% in Knox County. This information is interesting in and of itself, as it indicates that no Missouri county had an uninsured working population of 10% or less. When combined with the locations of Missouri hospitals, though, the SAHIE data presents an important lesson.

According to the Missouri Hospital Profiles By Name list, maintained by the Missouri Dept of Health and Senior Services, 41 Missouri counties do not have a hospital within their administrative boundaries. Combining that information with the SAHIE’s estimates reveals that 15 of those counties — Benton, Carter, Daviess, Douglas, Hickory, Knox, McDonald, Morgan, Oregon, Ozark, Schuyler, Shannon, Stone, Webster, and Wright — had uninsured populations between 25.1% and 29% in 2013. Although the list of hospitals does not include smaller facilities (such as rural clinics), this overlap does strongly suggest that some of Missouri’s most medically underserved counties were also home to very high numbers of uninsured working adults.

Reference: U.S. Census report on 2013 SAHIE

Map of the Month

Internet Use and Availability in Missouri

Posted on by glenn

A report published by the U.S. Census Bureau in November 2014, based on the 2013 American Community Survey (ACS), indicated that only 75.6% of Missourians live in households with high-speed Internet use. This figure puts Missouri slightly below the national average of 78.1% and ranks the state fourteenth lowest in high-speed Internet adoption. Additionally, when examining high-speed Internet use within metropolitan areas, several Missouri cities exhibited adoption rates well below the national average of 78.1%. These include St Joseph, Cape Girardeau, Springfield, Joplin, and Jefferson City, which all had adoption rates of less than 73%.

High-speed Internet use vs. availability in Missouri

Although there is no reason to doubt the numbers from the US Census Bureau, it does paint a somewhat incomplete picture of the current state of high-speed internet availability in Missouri. The report focuses on the at-home use of high-speed Internet, rather than availability. This is an important distinction since, based on multiple years of data collection for Missouri’s State Broadband Initiative, evidence suggests that most, if not all, Missourians do have access to high-speed connections from multiple wired and wireless providers.

Reference:  U.S. Census Report on High-Speed Internet Use