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Elk Grove has nation's lowest rate of those without health insurance

LOS ANGELES
September 15, 2017 4:58am

• WalletHub study lists Folsom as having second-lowest
• Six of the nation's “best” are in the Central Valley

The national uninsured rate is on an upward trend this year, following a record low of 8.6 percent in the first quarter of 2016, according to a survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But how widely do the rates differ from city to city? California's Great Central Valley provides some contrasts. With the nation's lowest rate of residents without health insurance is Elk Grove, according to a study released Friday by the personal-finance website WalletHub. The Sacramento County city saw its total uninsured rate drop by 6.41 percent between 2010 and 2016. Folsom is ranked second in the nation.

Also high on the WalletHub list four others in the top 25:
• Sacramento, 9th in the nation
• Stockton, 11th
• Bakersfield, 17th
• Fresno, 22nd

Also scoring high for low rates of uninsured are:
• Modesto 52nd
• Visalia 32nd
• Chico, 98th

With U.S. health-care reform still in limbo, WalletHub’s analysts measured the uninsured rates for 547 U.S. cities and broke them down even further by age, income level and race. See link below to the full report.

Methodology notes
In order to measure the rates of uninsured by city, WalletHub’s analysts compared the overall insurance rates in 547 U.S. cities in 2016 using U.S. Census Bureau data. In addition to comparing the overall insurance rates, they examined the city rates based on age, race/ethnicity and income level. An overall rank of No. 1 corresponds with the city with the lowest uninsured rate. When viewing the findings, please note that the change in uninsured rate refers to the difference between the percentages of uninsured in 2016 and 2010. A small change in the absolute difference does not necessarily indicate a negative outcome, as the percentage of uninsured people pre-Obamacare may have already been low to start with. In collecting its sample, WalletHub considered only the “city proper” in each case and excluded cities in the surrounding metro area. It then categorized each city according to the following population-size guidelines:

Large cities: More than 300,000 people
Midsize cities: 100,000 to 300,000 people
Small cities: Fewer than 100,000 people