Understanding Barriers to Health Insurance of Uninsured and Sporadically Insured Alaskans

Abstract

It’s no surprise that a lot of the Alaskans who don’t have health insurance say they just can’t afford it. That’s what individual Alaskans and representatives of small businesses told us, when we held focus groups in Anchorage, the Mat-Su and Kenai Peninsula boroughs, and Kodiak. But the focus groups, held from late 2006 through early 2007, did much more than just confirm what many Alaskans— and millions of other Americans—say about the costs of health insurance. We held the focus groups under contract with the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, as part of the state’s effort to learn more about the barriers a substantial number of Alaskans face in getting health-care coverage. There were 16 focus groups, attended by 89 individual Alaskans, 30 representatives of small businesses, and 5 Alaskans who sell health insurance.