District of Columbia health insurance

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status report:
District of Columbia state health insurance exchange

What progress is being made in setting up its federally-mandated District of Columbia state health insurance exchange?"

About state health insurance exchanges

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how healthy is living in District of Columbia?

The District of Columbia is not rated by America's Health Rankings®, the annual United Health Foundation report that identifies the healthiest states because its highly urban nature makes it distinctively unique from the states. However, the foundation does include 2010 data about the the District of Columbia.

The good news:

• The District of Columbia received high ratings for it low prevalence of obesity. At 20.1 percent, D.C. would have ranked #2 among the states.
• The nation's capital also received high ratings for it low prevalence of smoking. At 15.2 percent, D.C. would have ranked #7 among the states.
• D.C. also had one of the lowest rates of uninsured (11.2 percent), which would have ranked it #11 among states.

The bad news:

• The percentage of the District's children in poverty rose over the previous year from 29 percent to 31.3 percent. The only state with a worse ranking is Mississippi (31.9 percent).
• D.C.'s high violent crime rate is lower in the 2010 report, but still almost double the rate of the worst-ranked state (Nevada) – with 1,346 offenses per 100,000 population.
• The District was also cited for having a high rate of infectious disease. At 131 cases per 100,000 population, D.C.'s rate was quadruple that of #50-ranked Maryland.

more details

• See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on District of Columbia.
• Trust for America's Health ia another source for key District of Columbia health quality findings. In addition, 2010's federal health reform, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), included the creation of a prevention fund to provide more than $16 billion over the next 10 years to invest in effective, proven prevention efforts, like childhood obesity prevention and tobacco cessation, and the site has a report on how it impacts District of Columbia here.

get local health results

State snapshot too large? Get county-by-county health rankings for District of Columbia, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin.

does District of Columbia have a health insurance high risk pool?

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Starting in 2010, District of Columbia started offering health care insurance coverage to residents through the federally established temporary high-risk pool program. To find out more about District of Columbia's participation, click here.

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 pool to 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. Read more about risk pools here.

how to find health insurance in District of Columbia

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 District of Columbia and all other states.
• The Foundation for Health Coverage Education's guide on how to find health insurance in District of Columbia.
• Materiales En Español – Guías para encontrar cobertura de seguro de salud.

Georgetown's District of Columbia health insurance guide

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 help fund its research. Learn more about the Health Policy Institute.

Review Georgetown's guide for District of Columbia.

Health insurance plan report cards for District of Columbia

The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a private, non-profit organization that, among other things, provides health care plan report cards for consumers.

Go here to search for District of Columbia health insurance plan report cards.

District of Columbia government health insurance resources

Department of Health
doh.dc.gov
Phone: (202) 442-5955
Fax: (202) 442-4788
825 North Capitol Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002

Designs public health systems, diagnoses and investigates health threats, develops policy, provides education and disease prevention, and administers the low-income Medicaid insurance program.