As unemployment surges in Whatcom, so does rate of residents without health insurance

May 11--An estimated 328,100 Washington state residents are believed to have lost their health insurance in a six-week span ending April 25 because they lost their jobs after the state locked down to slow the spread of COVID-19, according to an analysis from the Office of Financial Management.

Rates of newly uninsured surged throughout the state after people lost the health insurance they received through their employers -- a loss that also affected health coverage for family members, according to the new report from the agency's Health Care Research Center.

In Whatcom County, the uninsured rates nearly doubled in the period from March 15 to April 25.

The rates increased from 6.3% pre-coronavirus to an estimated 11.1% in Whatcom, according to the report.

That makes Whatcom County sixth highest in the state for such losses.

At 11.1%, that's equivalent to about 26,000 uninsured people in the county, according to information provided to The Bellingham Herald by Wei Yen, senior forecast and research analyst with the Office of Financial Management.

Statewide, the uninsured rates jumped from 6.7% at the beginning of 2020 to 10.9%.

To assess the pandemic's impact on health coverage in the state and its counties, the center generates estimates using the 2018 American Community Survey, unemployment claims, Medicaid enrollment and health care enrollment through the state exchange.

In response to the pandemic's impact, the Washington Health Benefit Exchange opened a special enrollment period to allow people to sign up for health insurance.

More than 19,000 people in the state have signed up for qualified health plans through the exchange since March 10.

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