South Carolina Health Insurance
South Carolina’s health status
South Carolina is not doing so well as compared to most states in the US when it comes to health. After jumping six positions in America’s Health Rankings in 2007, South Carolina has fallen again and is in 2008 the 48th healthiest state in the country. There are several key factors that make South Carolina the third least healthy state in the country: in the past year, the percentage of the population under 18 living in poverty increased, from 15.6 to 21% of residents age 18 and under. The percentage of incoming 9th graders graduating from High School in four years also fell, and is now the second worst percentage in the country. South Carolina has also the dubious honor of having the highest violent crime rate in the US, with 788 offenses per 100,000 residents within the state.
Other health issues that need to be looked upon are: the state’s high prevalence of obesity (29% percent of the population in South Carolina is obese), an extremely high infant mortality rate at 8.6 deaths per 1,000 live births and a high premature death rate with 9,559 years of potential life lost before age 75 per 100,000 population. South Carolina ranks lower for health determinants than for health outcomes, indicating that overall healthiness may decline over time as it happened in 2008. The incidence of infectious disease cases, and the percentage of cancer-related and cardiovascular-related disease, although lowering slightly still needs to be pushed down further, because when compared with the rest of the states the percentages are still some of the highest in the country.
South Carolina, although still having a lot of work to do, has showed progress as well: some of the state’s key features include high immunization coverage with 81.1 percent of children ages 19 to 35 months receiving complete immunizations (although lowering slightly in the past year, it’s still a great percentage, below the national average), the country’s 14th lowest prevalence of binge drinking at 13.7% of the population and moderate public health funding at $81 per person. Despite the good public health funding per capita, the percentage of the population in South Carolina lacking Health Insurance is high, with 16.2% of the population lacking health insurance. Ready primary care access and preventable hospitalizations also need to be improved.
South Carolina needs to revise its health care policies, and be more accessible to its population, as well as more efficient. If they can manage to do so, the state’s health can improve tremendously.
South Carolina health insurance information
In South Carolina, 83.8% of the citizens in South Carolina have Health Insurance. Despite the improving government funding, this percentage is dropping (it was 88.1 in 2003), which means that although South Carolina has worked towards offering an accessible health plan to its citizens, they need to revise their plans and access, because with 16.2% of the population in South Carolina having no Health Insurance, a percentage that seems to be increasing, things are in need of improvement. The percentage of employers offering health insurance to employees is good, with 5.2% percent of employers offering health Insurance plans, although this percentage has been going down as well since 2003. About 77.8% of workers take the Health Insurance plans offered by their employers.
Despite the average public health funding in South Carolina, the state has a low rate of primary care physicians for the population, with only 105.5 physicians per 100,000 population. South Carolina’s health care system position within the country is in dire need of improvement, because not only it’s showing accessibility issues, but also adequacy and efficiency issues as well. The percentage of the South Carolina population that could get medical care when needed is 85.1%. The patients served by FQHCs as a percent of population under 200% FPL stands at 20.1%.
If coverage has been denied for you, there are still some options you can check:
Best health plans in South Carolina (according to US News)
The prestigious US News ranks yearly the best Health Plans in the country, polling and evaluating consumer assessment, prevention, and treatment offered by all plans. They gather information and rank the results, nation-wide and state-wide, showing on their results the best plans available for South Carolina as well. The Rankings reflect results of consumer surveys and success in preventing and treating illness compared with average health plan.
Not only they rank Commercial Plans, they also rank Medicare or Medicaid plans, covering and evaluating as many plans as possible. If you want to browse their list of best-of, please go to the US News Health Plans Search site.
Get involved
If you are concerned about South Carolina’s health care issues and want to speak out, your safest bet is to contact your federal official, either via phone or fax. Postal Mail is not recommended, since it takes too long, and e-mail might not be seen. Also, make sure you communicate with the right Member of the Senate and/or Congress.
If you want more guidance and tips on how to contact and communicate with your representatives, there are various sites on the internet that can help on how to contact your elected officials.
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| Contact the White House PHONE: toll free 1-800-671-7887 (ask for the Comment Line) State officials:
Official Rhode Island health insurance information
| Recent Rhode Island health insurance newsHealth Insurance is always a hot topic for discussion, since it involves the citizens of Rhode Island and their welfare. Here are some of the latest news and updates on the current issues and news related to Health and Health Insurance for Rhode Island: |
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