Everyone is talking about income equality and the need to increase the minimum wage. House Republicans probably will not let a federal bill pass, but some states are not waiting for the federal government. President Obama has already done so for people working for federal contractors.
A new analysis came out this week from the Economic Policy Institute that studied income inequality by state. The data goes from 1917 to 2011 but the most interesting stuff is the analysis of the last few years. Who has benefited the most from the “recovery?” It won’t surprise you to find out that it’s the richest Americans who actually recovered.
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
Data for individual states (available only through 2011) show that rising inequality has again become a pervasive trend: Between 2009 and 2011, in 33 states the top 1 percent captured between half and all income growth.
This data made me curious about two other state data points: uninsured people and the Medicaid expansion. As of mid-February, 21 states are not expanding Medicaid. Among the 10 states with the highest population of people with no health insurance, six are not expanding Medicaid. In order from most uninsured people to fewest, that would be:
- Texas
- Florida
- Louisiana
- Georgia
- Alaska
- Montana
My question is: How many of those states are in the list of 33 with the worst income inequality? That is defined by the top 1 percent capturing between half and all income growth between 2009 and 2011.
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
The answer? Two: Florida and Texas.
These states are not at the top of the income equality list. That honor goes to New York and Connecticut:
New York and Connecticut had the largest gaps between the average incomes of the top 1 percent and the average incomes of the bottom 99 percent. In both states the top 1 percent earn average incomes roughly 40 times those of the bottom 99 percent.
Both states were among the first to announce Medicaid expansions way back in 2012. Among the next eight states on the list, three are not expanding Medicaid (indicated in bold):
The next eight states with the largest gaps between the top 1 percent and bottom 99 percent in 2011 are Florida, Massachusetts (30.2), Nevada (29.5), Wyoming (27.6), California (26.8), Texas (26.3), Illinois (24.5), and New Jersey (23.9).
So, Florida and Texas are the third world of healthcare in America: high rates of uninsured people, no Medicaid expansion and very high income inequality.
I have collected this data in the chart above. The data is sorted by the first column – biggest population of uninsured people. The other fields are:
- Status of Medicaid expansion
- Status of income equality, as defined by the top 1 percent capturing between half and all income growth between 2009 and 2011
- Average 2011 income for the 1%
- Average 2011 income for everyone else
- The difference between those two figures
I got my data from The Advisory Board, the Economic Policy Institute and the Kaiser Family Foundation.
This data tells me that the reality of life in Florida and Texas proves the conclusion of a recent OxFam report: The prospects for low-wage workers are worsening rather than improving.
