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2008 Health Facts
October 2008
Access and Utilization
Adults 18+ Health Care
- 89.6% (2,000,698) Orange County adults had some form of health care coverage.
- 65.1% (1,281,345) of those with health care coverage indicated that they had employer based coverage. This is approximately a 7% decrease from 2001 and 10% decrease from 1998.
Adults 65+
- 97.8% (288,174) seniors had health care coverage. This is almost a 1% decrease (0.7%) from 2001.
- 57.2% (159,192) of seniors with health care coverage indicated they had Medicare.
Uninsured by Race and Income
Race/ ethnicity does not necessarily determine a person’s ability to have health care coverage; a better indicator is income. Examining the uninsured by race and income allows the reader to see the relationship between the two variables: minority groups who are more likely to be uninsured are also ore likely to be low income.
September 2008
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Use: Youth (Grades 7,9,11)
Alcohol is by far the most frequently used substance among Orange County Adolescents; by the 11th grade, a majority of students (60%) reported some use and more than one-third (34%) were current users of alcohol.
Marijuana is the most widely illicit drug; lifetime experimentation with marijuana among Orange County youth actually exceeded the rate for cigarettes, while current use prevalence is virtually the same for both substances.
Inhalants are next in popularity to marijuana, because they are readily available, inhalant use even exceeded marijuana among 7th graders. However, the use of inhalants tended to decline as adolescents age, while use of marijuana increased.
The tables below show the lifetime and current (past 30 days) alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD) use prevalence rates for Orange County and California students in the 7th, 9th, and 11th grades as reported in two separate surveys. One survey (California Student Survey, CSS) involved a statewide sample of 10,351 randomly-selected students and the other (California Healthy Kids Survey, CHKS) included a total of 43,861 students in Orange County.
1 California Student Survey 2003-2004
2 California Healthy Kids Survey, 2003-2004
August 2008
Health Care For Children
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, a child experiences the most dramatic growth of his entire life during infancy and early childhood. By the age one, the infant has tripled his birth weight and added almost 50% to his length. By the age three, a child's brain has grown by a quarter to nearly its adult size. Because of the tremendous development and growth, access to health care for young children is especially important.
Children without any form of Primary health coverage in Orange County is 2.2%. That might not seem like that many but when you look at how many children that actually is (5,807) that is an overwhelming among. Children without any form of Dental health coverage is 17.5% which is 44,654 children.
While most newborns are born healthy, some infants are born too early, with low birth weight, or with disabilities. It is particularly important that these newborns and their parents have access to health care to minimize complications. However, long-term outcomes for all infants and young children are improved when they receive regular health care and check-ups to ensure that the child is growing in a normal healthy way.
*All data taken from our 2005 report.
June 2008
Obesity is a major health crisis, both on national and local levels. The CDC ranked obesity as the second leading cause, after smoking, of preventable death in the United States, accounting for 280,000 deaths each year. According to the OCHNA 2004 survey, the proportion of Orange County adults ages 18 and over who were either overweight or obese ranges from 41.8% (81,419) in the youngest age category (18-24) to a high of 55.4% (142,322) in the second oldest age category (55-64).
May 2008
Homelessness is a problem in Orange County. There has been an 88% increase in the homeless population from 2000 to 2004. In 2000 there were 18,603 in the homeless population; in 2004 the population increased to 34,998. The trends of the homeless population coincide with steep rises in housing costs. The largest expense for most individuals and families is housing. Respondents to the OCHNA survey were asked about their annual income. Almost three quarters of homeless respondents (74.6%) make less than $15,000 annually. If you know someone who is homeless please click here to be directed to a web site that can help.
April 2008
April is National Organ Donor Month
The number of people requiring a life-saving transplant continues to rise faster than the number of available donors. Approximately 300 new transplant candidates are added to the waiting list each month.
- Waiting list candidates: 98,718 as of 4-7-2008
- Transplants January-January 2008: 2,196 as of 4-4-2008
- Donors January-January 2008: 1,130 as of 4-4-2008
All Individuals can indicate their intent to donate (persons younger than 18 years of age must have a parent's or guardian's consent). You can also help lower the number of people needing transplants by taking care of yourself, so you will not need one in the future. Please click here fore more information and for information on how you can become a donor.
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