The August issue of Alaska Economic Trends, released by the State of Alaska Department of Labor, features Alaska's health care industry. The industry added 10,000 jobs between 2001 and 2010, making it Alaska's fastest-growing industry. In 2010, the health care payroll was about $1.5 billion, with nearly 32,000 jobs. The actual job number is higher because it does not include self-employed health care professionals (for example, physicians who own their own practices), health care workers in non-health related government agencies (for example, school nurses), or military health care workers.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 81% of Alaskans have health insurance, but that does not include about 21,000 Alaska Natives who are covered through the Alaska Tribal Health System. Alaska had the fifth-highest per capita health care costs in the nation in 2004, which is the latest available government data.
For more information about Alaska's health care industry, read the full report.
Comments