Percentage of people with health insurance in region grew in 2016, Census figures show

March 28--Allegheny and Westmoreland counties saw the percentage of residents with health insurance increase in 2016, but they still had more than 60,000 people without coverage, according to Census Bureau figures released Wednesday.

The number of people with health insurance increased from 94.1 percent in 2015 to 95.3 percent in 2016 in Westmoreland County and from 94 percent to 95.1 percent in Allegheny County, according to the figures.

Statewide, the percentage of people insured increased from 92.4 to 93.2 percent.

In general, men were more likely to be uninsured than women and people with lower incomes were less likely to have insurance than people with higher incomes.

The increase is partly due to the Affordable Care Act and the health insurance markets stabilizing, but increased employment also was a factor, said James McTiernan, area vice president of Gallagher Benefit Services Inc., a Pittsburgh insurance health benefit company.

"As the economy got better, employment rose, and as employment rose more people were eligible for employer-based benefits," he said.

How many of these people still have insurance is an open question. More recent polling by Gallup shows that the number of people without health insurance increased during 2017. Numbers from the health care exchanges, however, show that their subscriptions are stable and even growing some, McTiernan said.

While the goal of the Affordable Care Act is to reach 100 percent coverage, that's not likely to happen, he said.

"I seriously doubt it because there's always going to be a certain segment of the population that's not going to buy insurance for whatever reason," he said.

Even with the penalties under the Affordable Care Act, some people elected not to buy insurance, he said. The government would probably have to make coverage mandatory or switch to universal coverage to reach 100 percent, McTiernan said.

Brian Bowling is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-850-1218, [email protected] or via Twitter @TribBrian.

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