Alameda County Can Reduce the Health Coverage Gap

A new survey reveals that there are over 140,000 uninsured adults in Alameda County. The County could make great strides in continuing to close the gap between those who have coverage and those who do not by:

Enrolling and retaining more of the uninsured in current programs

Expanding eligibility to include groups without viable coverage options, including immigrants

Creating coverage options for employees without affordable employer-based options

Groundbreaking Survey

Alameda County has lacked county-specific data on the uninsured adult population. To remedy this, the Alameda County, the Alameda Alliance for Health, and the Community Voices Project of Oakland funded the County of Alameda Uninsured Survey (CAUS). CAUS is the first multi-language county-specific survey of its kind to focus on uninsured adults and a much-needed supplement to existing data on children. The seminal findings from this survey are outlined in a report entitled, Advancing Universal Health Coverage in Alameda County: Results of the County of Alameda Uninsured Survey (CAUS), published jointly with the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

County’s Uninsured Adults Could Fill A City

If all uninsured adults lived in a single city,

it would be the third largest city in Alameda County.

§ There are over 140,000 uninsured non-elderly adults in Alameda County

§ Over 70% of uninsured adults are people of color

§ 53% of these uninsured adults are immigrants

§ 55% are employed; of those, 77% are self employed or working in businesses with less than 50 employees

Who Carries The Burden Of Being Uninsured?

We all do. The lack of health insurance impacts the health and well-being of uninsured individuals who are less likely to get needed care and use preventive care services. A serious illness could result in financial ruin and destroy an uninsured person’s ability to care for their family. The vitality of Alameda County and all of its residents is also at stake. A healthy workforce is essential for employee productivity and economic stability. Without insured patients, the county's health care delivery system must provide medical care to the uninsured in the least effective and most costly way. This means higher costs for consumers and the health care system.