Updates from the Health Care Services section of the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s State Health Assessment (SHA) include information on health insurance coverage in the state. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law on March 23, 2010. Expanded Medicaid took effect in Pennsylvania on January 1, 2015.
According to the Pennsylvania Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey results, the percentage of Pennsylvania residents reporting no health care coverage has decreased significantly since the act’s passage. Currently, nine percent of Pennsylvanians between 18 and 64 years old are uninsured. The highest rates of uninsured are among residents age 18 to 29, those with a high school education or less, those with family incomes below $25,000 annually, and black and Hispanic residents. Regionally, the highest rates of uninsured are in the northeast in Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe counites; southcentral in Fulton, Franklin and Adams counties; and Philadelphia.