Delaware health insurance

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status report:
Delaware state health insurance exchange

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

About state health insurance exchanges

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How did Delaware officials vote on health reform?

H.R.2: Repealing the Health Care Bill

#14

Date of Vote: 1/19/2011 Status: House passed 245-189, 1 not voting

HOUSE|SENATE

1/19/2011--Passed House amended. Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act - Repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, effective as of its enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by such Act. Repeals the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education and Reconciliation Act of 2010, effective as of the Act's enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by the Act's health care provisions. [more]

Our
Pick

No (1)

• John Carney

how healthy is living in Delaware?

Delaware was ranked as the 32nd healthiest state in the union, according to the 2010 version of America's Health Rankings®, commissioned by the United Health Foundation.

The good news:

• Delaware has a low (good) 4.3 percent rate of geographic disparity, which which measures the variation among the overall mortality rates among the counties within a state.
• The state was rated among the top 10 states for having a low number of poor mental health days per month.
• The study also praised Delaware for having a low rate of residents who lacked health insurance (12.1 percent).

The bad news:

• The percentage of children in poverty surged from 13.6 percent to 19 percent from 2009 to 2010.
• The state's worst rankings were for a high prevalence of binge drinking, air pollution and a high violent crime rate – the fourth worst in the nation.

Delaware's best and worst category rankings:

• Geographic disparity – 1st
• Poor mental health days – 11th
• Prevalence of binge drinking – 42nd
• Infectious disease – 42nd
• Air pollution – 43rd
• Violent crime – 47th

more details

• See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on Delaware.
• Trust for America's Health ia another source for key Delaware 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 Delaware here.

get local health results

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

does Delaware have a health insurance high risk pool?

No, Delaware does not offer its own risk pool for its citizens who are medically uninsurable.

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

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

Georgetown's Delaware 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 Delaware.

Health insurance plan report cards for Delaware

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 Delaware health insurance plan report cards.

Delaware government health insurance resources

State of Delaware Department of Insurance – the department has published "The Instant Insurance Guide: Health" as a guide to buying and using health insurance in Delaware. To obtain printed copies of the guide, please call 1-800-282-8611 or (302) 674-7310, or email consumer@state.de.us.

Delaware Healthy Children Program – help for families meeting certain income guidelines get health insurance for their children age 18 and under.

State of Delaware Medicaid Information – Medicaid furnishes medical assistance to low-income families and the elderly, blind and disabled people without enough income to pay for medical services.