Sept. 26, 2019
Ninety-four percent (94%) of Oregonians have health insurance, according to a new report released today by the Oregon Health Authority (OHA). The findings come from the Oregon Health Insurance Survey, which asks people in 8,000 Oregon households about insurance coverage, access to care and health care use.
The survey, conducted between February and August 2019, found that nearly 3.9 million Oregonians have health coverage. That’s about a 10 percent increase since 2013, before the Affordable Care Act went into effect.
“The number of Oregonians with health insurance remains high, and that’s important to acknowledge as a success,” said Jeremy Vandehey, director of health policy and analytics. “However, we continue see that too many young adults lack coverage, and we know that many people have coverage with high deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. There’s still a lot of work we can do together to address the rising cost of health care and access to quality care.”
According to the survey, nearly half (49 percent) of Oregonians are covered by private group policies. About one-quarter (25 percent) receive health coverage through the Oregon Health Plan, which includes Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment program. Another 15 percent have Medicare coverage, 4 percent have individual coverage, and 6 percent are uninsured.
There was a slight increase (0.2 percent) in the percentage of people with health insurance since 2017. The increase is not statistically significant.
Other early highlights of the 2019 Oregon Health Insurance Survey:
- Health insurance coverage through an employer increased slightly in 2019
- Health insurance coverage differs by age
- Younger adults are less likely to have coverage compared to older adults
- About 89 percent of young adults in Oregon have health coverage
OHA will release a series of deeper dives into the Oregon Health Insurance Survey data. The first topics will include the costs of health care, underinsurance and coverages rates by counties and regions.
Read the Report
Oregon Health Insurance Survey