Hampton Roads better than U.S. for insurance, pay

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that a higher percentage of Hampton Roads residents have health insurance than the U.S. population. Only 11% of civilian residents in the Hampton Roads MSA lacked health insurance in 2008, compared with 15% of the population nationwide, the bureau said in its latest American Community Survey.

The data on insurance coverage does not include members of the active-duty military, individuals in prison and those in nursing homes.

Among residents of the metro area who had health insurance, 78% had their coverage with a private provider, according to the survey. The remaining 22% had coverage through public programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid and the Veterans Administration.

In the survey, the Census Bureau also reported that the median household income in Hampton Roads rose in 2008 even as the national figure declined. The region’s median household income climbed 4.2% to $57,122 last year from $54,824 in 2007.

Nationwide, the median household income fell 3.6% to $50,303 last year from $52,163 in 2007.

One reason for the income growth in Hampton Roads was that the region lagged the rest of the country going into the downturn, said Vinod Agarwal, an economics professor at Old Dominion University and a member of ODU’s Economic Forecasting Project. The recession’s impact has been less severe in Hampton Roads largely because of the economic buffer that defense spending provides to the region.

In addition, Hampton Roads lacked the concentration of financial-services activity that lost so many jobs as the recession worsened, Agarwal said. However, the region’s black households didn’t share in the growth in median income. Their median household income fell 5.6% to $38,517 last year from $40,784.

Among the 50 states, Virginia ranked No. 8 with a median household income of $61,233 last year, according to Census Bureau calculations.

Excerpts reprinted by permission from The Virginian-Pilot, by Pilot writer Tom Shean