Oregon among biggest gainers in health insurance coverage, Gallup poll says

Mid-county health clinic

Staff at the Mid-County Health Center in Southeast Portland, which provides the kind of coordinated, patient-centered care that the state is trying to deliver in the Oregon Health Plan.

(Faith Cathcart/The Oregonian)

Despite problems with its health insurance exchange, Oregon ranks among the top 10 states for a drop in the number of uninsured, according to a new Gallup poll.

A telephone survey showed 14 percent of Oregonians were uninsured through midyear 2014, compared to 19.7 percent uninsured last year.

That drop, of 5.4 percentage points, ranked Oregon 7th among states, according to telephone interviews conducted for the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.

Arkansas ranked first, with a drop of 10.1 percentage points, and Kentucky second at 8.5 percentage points.

According to Gallup, 88,678 people were interviewed this year and 178,068 last year to come up with its numbers. The figures for last year came with a margin of error of up to 2 percentage points for the smallest states, including Hawaii and Oregon.

For this year, the margin of error is up to 5 percentage points for the smallest states. By way of comparison, Oregon has almost triple the population of Hawaii.

The results echo other surveys showing that Oregon's version of Medicaid, a program offering government coverage for low-income people, has seen among the greatest gains of any state. More than 300,000 people took advantage of the federal expansion of Medicaid bringing the total enrolled to nearly 1 million.

The jump in people using the low-income program was assisted by a highly streamlined application process allowing Medicaid enrollees to bypass Cover Oregon, the state's troubled health insurance exchange. Oregon was one of a handful of states to adopt the streamlined process.

--Nick Budnick

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