Birth Rates Reach All-Time Low among Teens

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that birth rates for U.S. teens have reached all-time lows across age and ethnic groups. The birth rate fell 9% from 2009 to 2010 among women aged 15 to 19 and the rate dropped 44% from 1991 to 2010. The number of babies born to women aged 15 to 19 was 367,752, the lowest since 1946. From 2007 to 2010, only three states – Montana, North Dakota, and West Virginia – did not experience a decrease in teen birth rates. Birth rates among minorities have dropped off sharply since 1991, but disparities remain, with non-Hispanic black, Hispanic, and American Indian or Alaska Native teens continuing to possess higher birth rates than the national average. This stands in stark contrast, however, to Asian or Pacific Islander teens, whose birth rate was only 10.9 births per 1000 women.

Dealing With the Costs of Health Care in America

MSNBC recently covered the National Center for Health Statistic's (NCHS) report on the financial burden of health care.  The NCHS questioned Americans on how easily they were able to pay medical bills from January to June of 2011.  The estimates show that one in five Americans live in a family that is having problems paying medical bills in the past 12 months.  One in ten Americans are in a family that has medical bills that they are not able to pay.  Also, just over a quarter of Americans live in a family that has medical bills that are being paid over time.  Lastly, one in three Americans lives in a family that is experiencing some kind of financial burden due to medical costs. The full report investigates how various demographics are dealing with medical bills.  The most notable stat within these demographics is the fact that those in the 0-17 age group have the highest probability of experiencing some sort of financial burden stemming from health care bills.  With Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act still in the process of being integrated into the health care system, it will be interesting to see how these numbers may or may not be affected.