This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Fewer Utahns under age 65 are going without health insurance, according to new numbers, but experts say residents still face major obstacles in getting insured.
Utah's overall uninsured rate fell to 11.6 percent in 2015 from 13.8 percent the year before — the most significant decrease since 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau reported last week.
All 29 Utah counties also saw decreases in their rates in 2015, but they still remain high by national standards. Seven counties in the state — Morgan, Davis, Box Elder, Tooele, Utah, Kane and Cache — had uninsured rates in 2015 below the national rate of 10.9 percent.
Morgan County had the lowest uninsured rate in 2015, at 8.2 percent, while the highest was in San Juan County, at 19.9 percent. Salt Lake County's rate fell by 2.6 percentage points in 2015, from 14.8 percent to 12.2 percent.
Nationally, just over 70 percent of U.S. counties saw a drop in their uninsured rates, a trend attributed to insurance requirements under the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, also known as Obamacare.
Though more Utahns are gaining health coverage, significant barriers remain, particularly in rural areas and depending on employment opportunities and the availability of insurers.
Wayne County saw its uninsured rate fall 0.6 percentage point in 2015, to 16.2 percent.
The county's employment base centers on seasonal work in tourism, farming and ranching and most of those jobs don't provide insurance, said Tina Andersen, an insurance counselor at Wayne Community Health Center.
Although the ACA has created opportunities for residents to find insurance outside their employer, Andersen said many people make too little to qualify for the law's tax credits but still earn too much for Medicaid, which extends coverage to low-income residents.
Furthermore, Andersen said, the range of options on insurers through the ACA narrowed significantly last year, while deductibles and copayments rose.
"I was shocked to see the drop in available plans," she said. "Where before there might be 10 and 15 options, there were maybe five this year."
"People want insurance and they don't mind paying for it," Andersen said, "but if it's not affordable, it's just really disappointing for them."
Some families reported deductibles upward of $7,500, forcing them to pay the bulk of their medical expenses out of pocket, according to Cassandra Richards, an application counselor at the Koosharem Community Health Center in Richfield.
Richards said the six-county region across central Utah saw an increase in residents using services specifically targeting those without insurance or who are underinsured, such as family-planning programs.
Health officials said they were surprised counties such as Juab, Millard, Sanpete, Sevier, Piute and Wayne saw any decreases in their uninsured rates, noting that while those rates fell, all are still well above national and state averages.
Even with programs in place to reduce health care costs, Richards said, many families still struggle to pay for basic needs.
"Am I going to have health insurance or put food on the table?" she said. "Especially in a rural community, we just don't have the options to help everyone."
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