Georgia has fifth-highest percentge of residents who are uninsured

Data: U.S. Census Bureau ; Note: Estimated from administrative and survey data; Chart: Axios Visuals

Georgia has the fifth-highest percentage of people under 65 without health insurance , according to new U.S. Census bureau data, with 13.6% of residents, or 1.2 million people, uninsured as of 2022.

Why it matters: That's a big improvement over 2006, when 19.7% of Georgians were uninsured — but still more than the national uninsured rate of 9.5%.

• Georgia is 1 of 10 states that have yet to expand Medicaid eligibility to more residents under the Affordable Care Act.

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Zoom in: The rate of people without health insurance is highest in some of Georgia's smaller, rural counties: Whitfield (21.4%), Atkinson (20.7%), Webster (20.4%), Candler (20.2%) and Gordon (19.9%) counties have the highest percent of uninsured residents.

• Oconee (7.4%), Chattahoochee (8%), Forsyth (8.3%), Harris (9%) and Fayette (9.8%) counties have the lowest.

Data: U.S. Census Bureau ; Note: Estimated from administrative and survey data; Map: Kavya Beheraj/Axios

Zoom out: Texas (18.8%) Oklahoma (14.3%), Wyoming (14.1%) and Florida (13.9%) have the highest share of uninsured residents among U.S. states and Washington, D.C.

• Massachusetts (2.9%), Washington, D.C. (3.1%) and Hawai'i (4.3%) have the lowest.

State of play: More recent preliminary data shows an uptick in the overall uninsured rate as states cut Medicaid rolls and unemployment rises, Axios' Maya Goldman reports .

• The state hoped to fill some coverage gaps when it launched Georgia Pathways to Coverage in 2023 for poor residents who work at least 80 hours a month.
• But a recent AJC report found that only about 4,500 people enrolled in the program's first year, much lower than the 90,000 Gov. Brian Kemp projected.

Stunning stat: Nearly 300,000 more residents could receive health insurance if Georgia fully expanded Medicaid under the ACA, according to an Urban Institute report.

• However, state lawmakers killed Medicaid expansion efforts during the 2024 legislative session.
• DCH told Axios that more than 1.3 million residents selected private health insurance plans for this year through Georgia Access , a state-based health insurance marketplace that includes Affordable Care Act plans. The spokesperson said more than 54% of the residents earn up to $22,590 annually.

The big picture: The uninsured rate fell in 627 U.S. counties and increased in only 23 between 2021 and 2022 — meaning Americans are trending toward being covered rather than not.

• Coverage expansions under the Affordable Care Act and social safety net policies enacted during the height of the pandemic are helping reduce the uninsured rate, per KFF .