Health Insurance Rates Lowest In Texas

Health insurance study shows that Texas has the highest rates of uninsured. Hispanics in Texas are less likely to be covered than blacks and whites. In other words health insurance is less affordable for Hispanics.
The first ever study from U.S. Census Bureau looked at health insurance rates in very details for 2005. Data was analysed and broken down by state, race to show the exact situation in all states.
Researchers found that Texas residents are less likely to be insured compared with all other states. One in four Florida, Texas, and New Mexico residents were uninsured in 2005, compared with only one in 10 of Minnesota and Hawaii residents.
When comparing health insurance rates by states, Texas comes the last with 26.3% of residents younger than 65% having no insurance, New Mexico comes after Texas with 24.2% uninsured residents, and Florida comes after New Mexico with 24.0%. Among the states with lowest percentage of uninsured residents appears Iowa with 10.4% uninsured, Wisconsin with 10.3%, Hawaii with 9.7%, and Minnesota with 9.5%, which has the lowest rates of residents with no health coverage.
According to health insurance rates for races Florida had the highest number of blacks with no insurance - 26.7%, Louisiana and Mississippi had 25% uninsured blacks. Oklahoma had the highest number of white residents with no insurance - 18.2%, while Hawaii had only 7.4% uninsured white residents and 11.4% blacks. Hispanics were found to be less likely to be covered than blacks and whites: Texas had 40.5% uninsured Hispanic residents, compared with 24.3% black and 15.8% white residents, while Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon, and South Carolina also had the highest rates of uninsured Hispanics - 40%.
"It's a number, I think, that is way too high," said David S. Lopez, CEO of the Harris County Hospital District, the safety net for the people without health insurance. "There are two growing populations: the medically indigent and the individuals who are working and their employers no longer provide insurance."
It could be that the numbers of those for whom the health insurance coverage is not affordable is because of the fact that Texas has a very high number of immigrant population. These people are new in the country. They have low paying jobs and can't afford health insurance.
Overall, US had 1 in 6 residents younger than 65 with no health insurance coverage at all. And it is not a matter of unemployment, because about 80% of those with no insurance had a full time worker in a family. This means that even those who work are unable to afford health coverage.

Health professionals need to take action on water and sanitation issues

The active involvement of health professionals in hygiene, sanitation, and water supply is absolutely crucial to accelerating and consolidating global health progress, says a new series of papers in PLoS Medicine by a leading group of public health academics and water advocates. Professor Sandy Cairncross from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and colleagues show how water and sanitation issues are woefully neglected across the world and suggest that action could prevent more than 2 million children dying each year.
The authors say that in 2010, nearly 20% of the world's population still defecates in the open and 2.6 billion people do not have access to even a basic toilet. Unsafe sanitation and drinking water, as well as poor hygiene, account for at least 7% of the total global disease burden, and nearly 20% of all child deaths in the world. Most of these diseases, including diarrhoea, can easily be prevented with cheap and proven interventions such as pit latrines and hand-washing with soap, say the authors. Despite this, progress has been "painfully slow" in many developing countries. The series urges members of the health community—including international donors, UN agencies, developing country governments, and health care professionals—to take immediate action to reduce this "devastating disease burden."
Four papers form the PLoS Medicine series. In the first article, Jamie Bartram from the University of North Carolina, USA, and Sandy Cairncross argue that the massive burden of ill health associated with poor hygiene, sanitation, and water supply demands more attention from health professionals and policymakers. In the second article, Paul Hunter (University of East Anglia, United Kingdom) and colleagues focus on water supply and argue that much more effort is needed to improve access to safe and sustainable water supplies. David Trouba (Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, Geneva, Switzerland) and colleagues discuss the importance of improved sanitation to health and the role that the health sector can play in its advocacy in the third article. And in the final article, Sandy Cairncross and colleagues outline what needs to be done to make significant progress in providing more and better hygiene, sanitation, and water for all.