Between 2007 and 2008, 18% of American women between 18 and 64 years of age were uninsured. 1 in 10 women in this age group were enrolled in Medicaid.

Two-thirds of women were covered by either employer-sponsored plans or public insurance such as Medicare and military-related plans, or ESI (employer-sponsored insurance).

Kaiser Family Foundation has published the latest data from the Urban Institute which pooled 2008 and 2009 iterations of the Current Population Surveys, based on the March 2009 Survey from the Bureau of the Census.

The proportion of women covered by employer-sponsored insurance varies substantially across the 50 United States. The highest percentage of working-aged women covered through employer plans were in the States of Hawaii and New Hampshire, where nearly 8 in 10 women are covered by employers (78%). The lowest penetration of employer-sponsored insurance was found for women living in New Mexico with 55% of women covered by ESI, and Mississippi and Texas where 58% of women receive.

In 14 states, at least 1 in 5 women was uninsured. The table turns to this other side of the coin: the level of uninsurance among women by state. The table presents data for the states where at least 1 in 5 women was uninsured in 2007-2008. These states include Texas (closer to between 1 in 3 or 4 women who lack health insurance), New Mexico, Louisiana, Florida, and Alaska, along with nine others.

Health Populi’s Hot Points: The latest and best health plan legislation includes a provision for states to opt out of providing a public option. Since there is high variability, state-by-state, on the proportion of women who lack health insurance, it is easy to forecast that such variability will continue where patchwork health reform allows people (in this case, women) to slip through the cracks left by the over-compromise of certain basic health reform principles: namely, the principle of universal coverage.
Read more about what the opt-out could mean here in The Gov Monitor.