Mirroring a national trend, the number of uninsured people in the Los Angeles metropolitan area dropped dramatically between 2013 and 2014, while the number of people living in poverty remained about the same, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics released Thursday.
According to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, the percentage of people without insurance in the Los Angeles area was 14.7 percent in 2014, down from 20.2 percent in 2013. The percent of people covered by private health insurance rose from 55.9 percent in 2013 to 58 percent last year, while the percentage of people with public insurance was 33.7, up from 30.2 in 2013.
Those figures generally mirrored the trend across the country. According to the Census Bureau, the percentage of people with private health insurance increased in 18 of the 25 largest metropolitan areas, while 22 of the 25 largest areas saw a jump in the percentage of people with public insurance.
Nationally, all 50 states and the District of Columbia saw increases in health coverage.
The median household income in the Los Angeles metropolitan area was $60,514 last year, up from $59,790 and above the U.S. median of $53,657. The statistics showed a definite gender gap, with full-time male workers having a median income of $45,716 and the female median at $41,097, according to the Census Bureau.
About 17.3 percent of Los Angeles-area residents were living below the poverty level last year, roughly the same as 2013, when the rate was 17.6 percent. The percentage of poverty-level children also held steady at 24.6 percent, compared to 25.3 percent in 2013.
California was one of 12 states that saw a decline in the percentage of people living in poverty in 2014
— Wire reports