Rhode Island health insurance

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status report:
Rhode Island state health insurance exchange

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

About state health insurance exchanges

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How did Rhode Island 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 (2)

• David Cicilline

• James Langevin

how healthy is living in Rhode Island?

Rhode Island has stayed consistent from last year’s rankings as the 10th healthiest state to live in, according to the 2010 America's Health Rankings® by the United Health Foundation.

The good news:

• Rhode Island showed in 2010 a high level in both primary care physicians (169.2 physicians per 100,000 individuals of the population) and public health care funding ($113 per person).
• It has shown declines in both the rates of smoking and infectious diseases, the former over the past five years and the latter over the last ten.
• It also demonstrates a low geographic disparity, at 6.8 percent.

The bad news:

• Some of Rhode Island’s challenges include high rates of binge drinking (17.9 percent of the total population) and children in poverty (22.2 percent of the population under age 18).
• It also has a relatively high rate of preventable hospitalizations, although that rate has decreased since last year.
• Obesity has increased by 13.8 percent of the population, and is now at 24.9 percent of the population of Rhode Island.

Rhode Island’s best and worst category rankings:

• Primary care physicians – 4th
• Prevalence of smoking (15 percent) – 5th
• Geographic disparity – 6th
• Infectious disease (13.8 cases per 100,000 pop.) – 30th
• Preventable hospitalizations – 34th
• Children in poverty – 37th
• Prevalence of binge drinking – 41st

more details

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

get local health results

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

does Rhode Island have a health insurance high risk pool?

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

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

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

Georgetown's Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island.

Health insurance plan report cards for Rhode Island

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 Rhode Island health insurance plan report cards.

Rhode Island government health insurance resources

Rhode Island Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner – congrats to the State of Rhode Island, for establishing a dedicated office to aid health insurance consumers and promote the state health care system. Follow the links at left to access consumer information.

Rhode Island Department of Human Services – Medical Assistance Program (Medicaid) – The Rhode Island Medical Assistance Program, also known as " Medicaid", is a federal and state funded program that pays for medical and health related services for eligible Rhode Islanders.

Advocacy Link(s)

Rhode Island and Universal Health Care – a report to the Rhode Island General Assembly by the Connecticut Coalition for Universal Health Care