South Carolina health insurance

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status report:
South Carolina state health insurance exchange

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

About state health insurance exchanges

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How did South Carolina 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]

Yes (5)

• Jeff Duncan
• Trey Gowdy

• Mick Mulvaney
• Tim Scott

• Addison Wilson

Our
Pick

No (1)

• James Clyburn

how healthy is living in South Carolina?

South Carolina is ranked as the 41st healthiest state to live in, according to the 2010 America's Health Rankings® by the United Health Foundation, which is a several-spot increase from its 46th place position in 2009.

The good news:

• South Carolina was praised in 2010 for its relatively low rates of binge drinking and children in poverty, the latter of which saw a decrease by a few percent over the past year, and is now 17.6 percent of the population under the age of 18.
• It has also seen decreases in preventable hospitalizations, over the past year, and in smoking, over the past five years.

The bad news:

• Challenges facing South Carolina include high rates in violent crime, infant mortality, and infectious disease, all of which place South Carolina among the worst states in the nation with respect to those measures.
• It also shows low rates of high school graduation (with only 58.9 percent of entering ninth graders graduating within their expected four years of high school) and early prenatal care (with 65.8 percent of women receiving prenatal care within their first trimester of pregnancy.
• Obesity has increased in South Carolina since 1990 from 20.6 percent of the overall population to 30 percent.

South Carolina’s best and worst category rankings:

• Prevalence of binge drinking (12.5 percent) &ndash 10th
• Children in poverty (17.6 percent) &ndash 18th
• Infant mortality &ndash 46th
• Early prenatal care &ndash 48th
• Violent crime &ndash 49th
• High school graduation (58.9 percent) &ndash 49th

more details

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

get local health results

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

does South Carolina have a health insurance high risk pool?

South Carolina Health Insurance Pool
Toll-free Phone 1-800-868-2500, ext. 42757, or 1-803-788-0500, ext. 42757 

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

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

Georgetown's South Carolina 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 South Carolina.

Health insurance plan report cards for South Carolina

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 South Carolina health insurance plan report cards.

South Carolina government health insurance resources

Hands on Health South Carolina – a resource by South Carolina's state government to help and encourage state residents to live healthier lives.

South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services – manages the state's Medicaid program to provide heath care coverage for those who cannot afford it.

Partners for Health Insurance (PHC) – South Carolina's program to provide Medicare coverage to children 18 and under who live in families with income at or below 150 percent of the Federal Poverty Level.