10 States With the Highest Coronavirus-Related Health Insurance Losses

This story originally appeared on Zippia.com.

Nearly 40 million workers had lost their jobs due to COVID-19 by the end of May.

While some of those jobs are slowly returning, some may be gone for good. Other jobs are still being cut, with furloughed workers discovering their job loss isn’t so temporary after all. And while the CARES Act provided much needed financial relief, many workers found themselves suddenly without health insurance.

As of May, over 5.36 million workers had lost their employer-provided health insurance. However, some states were hit harder than others. Overall, Northeastern states saw the largest increase in uninsured residents, and all states in the top 10 saw more than a 30% increase.

To determine this, we compiled the total number of newly uninsured people in each state, the percent increase of the uninsured, and the percent of the total uninsured in each state. Our data comes from Families USA, a nonprofit organization.

Three figures for each state are displayed throughout this article:

• Increase in uninsured adults
• Uninsured in May 2020
• Number of newly uninsured

To determine the increase in uninsured adults, the state-level increase in unemployment and coverage estimates were extrapolated to estimate the insurance drop in each state. This number was then compared with the uninsured rate from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey for 2018, the most recent data available.

These numbers are only for February to May and do not include workers who lost their insurance after May.

10. Connecticut

Increase in uninsured adults: 30%
Uninsured in May 2020: 10%
Number of newly uninsured: 49,000

Connecticut saw a 30% increase in uninsured adults, just making it into our top 10. In terms of total new uninsured people, though, it ranks near the middle of the pack across all states at 49,000.

9. New York

Increase in uninsured adults: 32%
Uninsured in May 2020: 10%
Number of newly uninsured: 298,000

Densely populated New York has the highest number of newly uninsured in our top 10. But that 32% increase in uninsured adults resulted in just a 10% uninsured rate for May.

8. Delaware

Increase in uninsured adults: 33%
Uninsured in May 2020: 11%
Number of newly uninsured: 16,000

Delaware saw 16,000 newly uninsured people in May 2020. That’s the second-lowest total in our top 10, but a substantial 33% increase for the small state.

7. Nevada

Increase in uninsured adults: 34%
Uninsured in May 2020: 21%
Number of newly uninsured: 97,000

Nevada had a 34% increase in uninsured adults. That contributed to the largest uninsured rate in our top 10, at 21%.

6. Vermont

Increase in uninsured adults: 36%
Uninsured in May 2020: 7%
Number of newly uninsured: 7,000

Despite ranking in the top 10 because of the significant increase in uninsured adults, Vermont‘s numbers may not look very large. It is the state that had the lowest uninsured rate in May 2020.

5. New Hampshire

Increase in uninsured adults: 43%
Uninsured in May 2020: 11%
Number of newly uninsured: 29,000

New Hampshire had a big increase in uninsured adults, 43%. That contributed to an overall uninsured rate of 11%, which is better than most states are doing.

4. Michigan

Increase in uninsured adults: 46%
Uninsured in May 2020: 12%
Number of newly uninsured: 222,000

Along with New York, Michigan is the only state in our top 10 where more than 200,000 people lost employer insurance coverage. That hefty leap amounts to a 46% increase in uninsured adults.

3. Rhode Island

Increase in uninsured adults: 55%
Uninsured in May 2020: 9%
Number of newly uninsured: 21,000

Rhode Island residents suffered a substantial loss in insurance coverage, with a 55% increase in uninsured adults. In spite of that, it tied for the fourth-lowest uninsured rate.

2. Hawaii

Increase in uninsured adults: 72%
Uninsured in May 2020: 10%
Number of newly uninsured: 34,000

Hawaii had a daunting 72% increase in uninsured adults, placing it at No. 2 on our list. It could be doing a lot worse, though. since it ranked sixth-lowest for overall uninsured rate.

1. Massachusetts

Increase in uninsured adults: 93%
Uninsured in May 2020: 8%
Number of newly uninsured: 159,000

The Bay State saw an astounding 93% increase in uninsured adults as a result of COVID-19 job losses. However, it tied for the second-lowest insured rate in May 2020, despite 159,000 new uninsured.