Arizona Health Insurance

How healthy is living in Arizona?

In 2007, Arizona climbed one notch to be ranked the 33rd most heatlhy state to live in, according to a study by the United Health Foundation. This is after sliding four places in 2006.

Factors bringing Arizona down include low public health spending ($81 per person), 20.9 percent of the six million people living in the state is uninsured (up from 17.1 percent in two years), bad prenatal care with 67.6 percent of pregnant women receiving adequate prenatal care and one of five children living in poverty. The cost of care in Arizona is moderate as compared to other states but the quality of care is low.

In 2007 the high school graduation rate dropped from 75.9 percent to 66.8 percent of incoming ninth graders who graduate within four years -- only seven states rank worse in this category.

See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on Arizona.

Does Arizona have a risk pool for the uninsurable?

No, Arizona does not offer a risk pool for its citizen's who are medically-uninsurable.

Risk pools are state-sponsored programs to help people with a history of medical problems in their family to purchase coverage. These pools are for people who can afford to buy health insurance, but are not able to get underwritten in the private market because of a pre-existing health condition. These programs can vary significantly from state-to-state in price, benefits and number of people served. Often insurance companies doing business in the state are required to contribute to the poolto keep it in the black. In the best cases they allow people to be able to switch jobs or become self-employed without the fear of losing their health insurance coverage. Find more on risk pools here.

Mini-meds a guaranteed-issue option for those who are medically uninsurable

An option for the medically uninsurable is a guaranteed-issue mini-med health insurance plan. There is no underwriting and no health questions are asked.

These plans provide basic coverage but are not designed to help with catastrophic expenses. They can often count as creditable coverage, eliminating the waiting period for pre-existing conditions if you later move to an employer-based plan (based on the same criteria as other plans offering creditable coverage.) See our article about this new class of health insurance here.

Cover The Uninsured's guide on finding health insurance in Arizona

Cover The Uninsured is a national effort to highlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health insurance and to demand solutions from our nation's leaders. Read more information on its efforts. It is a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

• Cover The Uninsured's facts on the uninsured in Arizona.
• Its guide on how to find health insurance in Arizona.
• Materiales En Español -- Guías para encontrar cobertura de seguro de salud.

Georgetown University's Guide to Health Insurance in Arizona

Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute has researched and written state-by-state guides for finding and keeping health insurance. It updates these guides as federal and state policies change. A number of non-profit organizations contribute to funding its research. Find more on the Health Policy Institute.

• Georgetown's guide for Arizona.

News headlines on Arizona health insurance

Find the most recent headlines on health insurance in Arizona at Google News or Yahoo News.

Want single-payer health care? Concerned about the uninsured?
Contact your elected officials about health care issues

Contact your federal officials. Phone calls are best. Faxes are good, too. Since 9-11, postal mail creates long delays, and many members of Congress simply do not take e-mail seriously -- however, since e-mail is so easy it doesn't hurt to do that, too. Members of the Senate and Congress will usually ignore any correspondence that is not from their district, so it's not desirable to blanket e-mail them (This type of abuse is why many legislators do not view e-mail favorably). The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a guide on how to contact your elected officials, including a valuable list of dos and don'ts.

• Contact the White House
  Phone: toll free 1-800-671-7887 (ask for the Comment Line)
  FAX: 1 202-456-2461 (fax)
  E-mail:comments@whitehouse.gov
  
  
• Find contact information on your U.S. Representative
  Locate by using your ZIP Code
  Or if you know who your representative is, simply call the Capitol Switchboard toll-free at 1-800-962-3524

• Senator Jon Kyl
  PHONE: 202-224-4521 (DC office)
  FAX: 202-224-2207 (DC office)
  State offices (see bottom of page)
  Contact by E-mail

• Senator John McCain
  PHONE: 202-224-2235 (DC office)
  FAX: 202-228-2862 (DC office)
  State offices
  Contact by E-mail
  
  

Contact your state officials:

• Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano
  1700 West Washington
  Phoenix, Arizona 85007
  PHONE: (602) 542-4331
  FAX: (602) 542-1381
  Contact by e-mail
  
  
  
• Contact your Arizona State Senator and State Representative

USNews health insurance rankings for Arizona

US News does an annual ranking of what it considers the best health insurance plans in each state. Visit its reports on various health insurance or medical insurance plans being offered in Arizona.

Official State Goverment Sites with Arizona Health Insurance Information

Arizona State Department of Health Services -- Official government Web site for department responsible for health care services for Arizonans. -- Español
Arizona Department of Health Services:
150 North 18th Avenue
Phoenix, Arizona 85007
General and Public Information: (602) 542-1000
Fax: (602) 542-0883

Arizona Department of Insurance main page. Resources for consumers, insurers and producers for Arizona health insurance or medical insurance.

Consumer Information from the Arizona State Department of Insurance -- Health insurance topics and information geared specially for consumers.
For insurance questions/problems...
Phoenix Area: (602) 912-8444
Tucson Area: (520) 628-6370
Statewide: 1-800-325-2548