S.C. population of those with health coverage grew in 2018.

The number of people without health insurance coverage in South Carolina fell in 2018, the U.S. Census Bureau reports. The Palmetto State is one of three states, including Wyoming and New York, in which the number of uninsured residents dropped in 2018.

The uninsured rate in S.C. fell .5 percentage point from 2017 to 2018, despite the state's refusal to expand its Medicaid program, according to the report. The number of South Carolinians without health insurance fell by 20,000, from 542,000 to 522,000, between 2017 and 2018.

Nationwide, the number of Americans without health insurance increased to 27.5 million in 2018, the first time the nation experienced an increase year-to-year since the Affordable Care Act was enacted.

"In general, the uninsured rate in states that expanded Medicaid eligibility prior to January 1, 2018, was lower than states that did not expand eligibility," according to the Health Insurance Coverage in the United States report.

The Census Bureau compiles the quantitative figures in the report, but it's up to interested parties to interpret the factors behind the numbers.

Examining the numbers

While the numbers are encouraging, University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business associate professor Robert Hartwig said they have to be put into perspective with national statistics.

"We still have to understand that the portion of South Carolinians without health insurance is much higher than it is in the United States overall 10.5% versus 8.5% even with the improvement in South Carolina and the deterioration elsewhere," he said.

Hartwig is the director of the school's Center for Risk and Uncertainty Management. As an economist, he's studied the numbers and researched possible causes. Comparing S.C. to Wyoming and New York, the other two states that saw a drop in uninsured residents, Hartwig found no common factors. But he thinks S.C.'s economic growth could have caused the decline.

"South Carolina is a state that has been a growth leader in terms of jobs. And it has produced significant in-migration to the state people moving from other states to South Carolina for jobs particularly in areas like manufacturing and construction," he said. "And these jobs tend to have health insurance as a benefit."

S.C. Department of Insurance Director Ray Farmer also suspects that the decrease of uninsured S.C. residents reflects the state's recent economic growth.

"The economy in our state has been strong for a number of years...