NM ranks last for employer health plans

A new study has found that when it comes to employer-backed health plans, New Mexico sits at the bottom of the list. The study, by the nonpartisan think tank the Economic Policy Institute, found that 50.7 percent of New Mexico's population of people under under 65 years of age was covered by employer-sponsored health insurance in 2006 to 2007.

This is well below the national trends during the same period, in which nearly 63 percent of all workers under 65 years old were covered by employer-sponsored health insurance, and 71 percent  of all workers were insured by their employers.

Meanwhile, Texas (53.5 percent) and Mississippi (53.7) percent ranked second and third worst respectively for the same measure.

In addition to ranking worst among adults, New Mexico was second worst in the country, ranking behind Mississippi for the percentage of children who were insured by an employee health plan in 2006 and 2007, at 46.3 percent.

To learn more about this study:
- read this Associated Press piece