A Profile of Florida’s Low-Wage Uninsured Workers by Joan Alker and Alexandra Corcoran June 2021 The recently enacted American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) includes new large financial incentives for states to extend health insurance coverage to low-wage workers and other adults earning less than $17,775 a year.1 These incentives apply to regular spending in a state’s Medicaid program and offer a five-percentage point across the board increase in the federal share for a 24-month period after the state extends coverage. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that Florida’s budget would see a net gain of $1.8 billion over a two- year period if the state expanded Medicaid.2 Approximately 789,800 uninsured nonelderly The Georgetown University Center adults, or 33 percent of the state’s uninsured adult population, would gain health insurance.3 for Children and Families (CCF) is an This fact sheet examines which workers and industries would benefit from expansion of independent, nonpartisan policy and Medicaid coverage.4 The top three industry sectors in Florida employing low-wage uninsured research center founded in 2005 with a mission to expand and improve high- workers are hospitality, retail, and administrative/support/waste management services which quality, affordable health coverage for together account for almost half of those working without insurance (see Table 1). The most America’s children and families. CCF is common jobs for uninsured low-wage workers are cashiers, cooks, waiters and waitresses, based in the McCourt School of Public retail salespersons, and construction workers (see Table 2). Restaurants and construction Policy’s Health Policy Institute. firms are the top two employers of these workers (26 percent).5 Table 1. Top Industry Sectors in Florida For Low-Wage Workers For Low-Wage, Uninsured Workers Accommodation and food services 16.9% Accommodation and food services 19.6% Retail 16.3% Retail 15.7% Health care and social assistance 11.3% Administrative, support, and waste management services 11.4% Administrative, support, and waste management services 8.7% Construction 10.1% Construction 6.9% Health care and social assistance 8.0% Other services* 6.3% Other services* 6.8% Educational services 5.8% Manufacturing 3.4% Transportation and warehousing 3.9% Transportation and warehousing 3.3% Professional, scientific, and technical services 3.8% Professional, scientific, and technical services 3.0% Manufacturing 3.5% Educational services 2.9% * Other services category includes industries such as repair and maintenance, barber shops and beauty salons, and laundry services. Table 2. Top Occupations in Florida For Low-Wage Workers For Low-Wage, Uninsured Workers Cashiers 5.7% Cashiers 5.5% Waiters and waitresses 3.7% Cooks 4.8% Customer service representatives 3.5% Waiters and waitresses 4.0% Retail salespersons 3.4% Retail salespersons 3.7% Cooks 3.2% Construction laborers 3.2% Janitors and building cleaners 2.2% Landscaping and groundskeeping workers 3.2% Driver/sales workers and truck drivers 2.2% Customer service representatives 2.8% Maids and housekeeping cleaners 2.2% Driver/sales workers and truck drivers 2.6% Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers 2.0% Maids and housekeeping cleaners 2.4% Landscaping and groundskeeping workers 1.9% Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers 2.2% Note for Table 1 and 2: Workers with no occupation are not listed. Source: Georgetown University Center for Children and Families analysis of US Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2019 Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS). Demographics of uninsured low-income adults Figure 1 finds that by race, White workers form the majority of low-wage uninsured Figure 1. Race of Low-Wage, Uninsured Workers in workers in all of the top industries. Figure Top Industry Sectors 2 looks at ethnicity (Latino workers can be Accommodation 67.1% Source: Georgetown University of any race) and finds that Latino workers and food services 25.3% Center for Children and Families analysis of U.S. Census comprise between 14 and 18 percent of Bureau American Community Retail 72.0% workers in the top industry sectors for Survey (ACS) 2019 Public Use 23.2% Microdata Sample (PUMS). which there is reliable data. And Figure 3 Administrative Estimates for the share of low- shows the top industry sectors employing 62.9% wage workers in each industry support, and waste management services 31.5% sector who are American Indian/ low-wage uninsured workers by gender Alaska Native, Asian/Native and finds considerable variation depending Construction 77.4% Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 15.7% and Two or More Races/Some on the industry. Construction is very male- Other Race are suppressed dominated while the health care /social Health care and 58.9% due to small sample sizes and social assistance low-reliability. Contact authors assistance sector is the reverse. 35.4% for more information on the methodology. WhiteBlack Figure 2. Ethnicity of Low-Wage, Uninsured Figure 3. Gender of Low-Wage, Uninsured Workers in Top Industry Sectors Workers in Top Industry Sectors Accommodation Accommodation and food services 82.8% 17.2% and food services 46.9% 53.1% Retail 85.3% 14.7% Retail 38.5% 61.5% Administrative Construction 83.7% 16.3% support, and waste 66.5% 33.5% management services Health care and Construction social assistance 85.7% 14.3% 91.7% 8.3% Other services Health care and 84.4% 15.6% social assistance 20.3% 79.7% Non-Hispanic/LatinoHispanic/Latino MenWomen Source: Georgetown University Center for Children and Families analysis of Source: Georgetown University Center for Children and Families U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2019 Public Use analysis of U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) Microdata Sample (PUMS). The American Community Survey measures race 2019 Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS). Contact authors for and ethnicity as two separate facets of an individual’s identity. Hispanic/ more information on the methodology. Latino individuals can be of any race. Estimates for administrative, support, and waste management industry suppressed due to small sample size and low-reliability in one category. Contact authors for more information on the methodology. June 2021 CCF.GEORGETOWN.EDU Florida’S low-wage, uninsured workers 2 Which parts of the state have higher proportions of uninsured workers? The map shows counties in Florida and the proportion of uninsured workers regardless of income or citizenship. Table 3 lists the Uninsured Rate for top 10 counties in Florida with the highest Nonelderly Workers percentage of their workers uninsured. Above 20% With the exception of Collier County, these Between 10-20% counties are predominantly rural counties, a Lower than 10% pattern seen in other non-expansion states.6 Estimate suppressed due to unreliable data Not all of these workers would be eligible if the state expanded Medicaid because Note: Includes all workers ages 19-64 regardless of their incomes might be too high to qualify or income or citizenship status. Source: Georgetown University Center for Children because of their citizenship status. and Families analysis of US Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2015-2019 Table DP03. Table 3. Top 10 Counties with Highest Uninsured Rates for Nonelderly Workers in Florida County Uninsured Rate County Uninsured Rate United States 11.0% Monroe 26.6% Note: Includes all workers ages 19-64 regardless of income or Florida 16.9% Putnam 26.3% citizenship status. Hendry 35.1% Holmes 25.7% Source: Georgetown University Center for Children and Families analysis of U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey Glades 32.1% Collier 24.9% (ACS) 2015-2019 Table DP03. Out of Florida’s 67 counties, one Franklin 30.0% Dixie 23.7% county estimate (Liberty County) was suppressed due to high margins of error and low-reliability. Suppression rules did not DeSoto 28.5% Okeechobee 23.5% affect the top ten presented in this table. Endnotes 1 For more information on the provisions of the law, see E. Park and 4 All data are derived by the authors from the American Community S. Corlette, “American Rescue Plan Act: Health Coverage Provisions Survey (2019) most from the Public Use Microdata Sample; county data Explained” (Washington DC: Georgetown University Center for Children calculated from American Community Survey five-year (2015-2019) and Families and Center on Health Insurance Reform, March 2021), prepared tables. available at https://ccf.georgetown.edu/2021/03/11/american-rescue- 5 Ibid. plan-act-health-coverage-provisions-explained/. 6 See other factsheets in this series at https://ccf.georgetown. 2 R. Rudowitz, B. Corallo, and R. Garfield, “New Incentive for States to edu/2021/05/17/low-wage-uninsured-workers-state-profiles/. Adopt the ACA Medicaid Expansion: Implications for State Spending” (Washington DC: Kaiser Family Foundation, March 2021), available at https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/new-incentive-for-states-to- adopt-the-aca-medicaid-expansion-implications-for-state-spending/. 3 Kaiser Family Foundation, “Who Could Medicaid Reach with Expansion in Florida?,” available at https://files.kff.org/attachment/fact- sheet-medicaid-expansion-FL. June 2021 CCF.GEORGETOWN.EDU florida’s low-wage, uninsured workers 3