Insurance Too Costly For Many

A new survey shows 150,000 Idahoans under the age of 65 have no health insurance - and for most of them, it’s a matter of affordability, not availability.

The Blue Cross of Idaho telephone survey in May and June was conducted by The Gallup Organization and covered 6,507 people ages 18-64. Medicare provides coverage for almost all Idahoans age 65 and older.

Tracy Andrus, Blue Cross vice president, said Thursday the survey showed 75 percent of the people who said they had no insurance had household incomes under $30,000 and were unlikely to purchase it at any price.

“These people are economically disadvantaged and are uninsured because they can’t afford insurance, not because they can’t obtain it,” she said.

The survey said more than half of those with no medical insurance, 76,000, are children under the age of 18. In the under-65 group, 15.4 percent had no insurance, almost exactly the same as U.S. Census Bureau statistics show for the entire country.

Legislators for years have used the results of an earlier survey that showed about 16 percent without health insurance. Pollster Robert Schussel of The Gallup Organization said the new result and the older figure probably were comparable.

Andrus said the poll showed that Idaho’s lowest-income families were unlikely to buy health insurance, even as low as $20 per month.