Wisconsin Maintains Low Rate of Uninsured, Study Finds

A recent Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services study on the uninsured found that 4% of Wisconsin residents were uninsured in 2000 and 7% had insurance for "only part of the year" -- "paint[ing] an even more optimistic picture" than Census Bureau findings that 7.4% of state residents were uninsured, the AP/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. By comparison, the Census Bureau placed the national uninsurance rate at 14%. Officials for Wisconsin's 2000 Family Health Survey said that approximately 6% of Wisconsin residents were without insurance "[a]t any one time" in 2000. An analyst for the state survey, Eleanor Cautley, said that the differences between the state study and the Census Bureau report, which was based on a March 2001 survey, could be attributed to a "larger and more diverse sample" used by Wisconsin and "different" sets of questions. Although the statistics "reflected a positive trend," the AP/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the country's "shaky economic future" may affect the uninsured in Wisconsin. Jon Peacock, director of the Wisconsin Budget Project, said that the "positive news" in the state survey may "dissipate" if employers lay off workers or "cut back" on health insurance benefits. Peacock concluded, "[I]n a time of recession, there could be a big increase in the number of uninsured people and in the number of people who may be applying for state assistance" (AP/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 10/8).