It is widely understood that the percentage of citizens covered by some type of health insurance can differ widely from state to state and region to region within the United States. It is also understood that in Canada, with its universal healthcare system, living a life without health insurance is beyond most citizens' imaginations.

According to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Southwestern US falls greatly behind other regions of the country in terms of the number of people covered under some form of health insurance. The CDC report calculates that 30% of non-elderly adults and 18% of children in the Southwestern US lack any health insurance coverage. In contrast, residents of New England are almost twice as likely to be insured, with Massachusetts and Hawaii being the states with the lowest numbers of uninsured.

After the Southwest, the Southeast region of the US had the next highest rate of uninsured citizens. In terms of children, our youngest and most vulnerable citizens fare best in New England, with only 4% lacking health insurance, while 12% of children in the Rocky Mountain region live without such protection. After New England, the Great Lakes and Upper Midwest were the best places for children under these criteria. The CDC study also concludes that approximately 54 million Americans spent some part of 2007 without health insurance coverage of any kind.

These numbers do indeed reflect vast differences in rates of health insurance coverage across the country, and, as always, such data begs us to ask the question: What will it take for the United States to offer comprehensive health insurance to every man, woman and child, regardless of economic class or region of residence?

Even in an election year, satisfactory answers are apparently not forthcoming.

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NurseKeith is a nurse, writer, consultant and blogger. Please feel free to visit his blog, Digital Doorway.