Health Insurance Coverage
From 2010 to 2016, the uninsured rate for non-elderly Americans decreased from 18% to 10%, then ticked upward for Black and Hispanic persons — widening disparities once again.
Lack of health insurance coverage by race/ethnicity, 2010-20
Nonelderly population age 0-64
Sources: Census Bureau’s CPS ASEC and Kaiser Family Foundation. Notes: 2019 data (which was collected in March 2020) has known quality issues due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Changes in health insurance rates between 2016 and 2017, and between 2012 and 2013 are affected by changes in survey design.
Starting in 2010, the rates of the uninsured dramatically dropped with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. And while uninsured rates improved across all racial/ethnic groups, disparities remained with 1 in 5 non-elderly Hispanic individuals and nearly 1 in 8 non-elderly Black individuals in the U.S. lacking health insurance as of 2020. Notably, the uninsured rate among Black people actually increased by more than 1 percentage point from 2018 to 2020 – likely due to the loss of full-time employment when the pandemic hit.1
Seven states in the South (AL, GA, FL, MS, NC, SC, and TN) have not adopted Medicaid expansion. As a result, according to the most recent American Community Survey data (2016-2020), 15% of working-age adults in AL, 18% in GA, 19% in FL, 18% in MS, 16% in NC, 16% in SC, and 14% in TN lack health insurance. In comparison, only 4% in Massachusetts were without coverage.
Lack of health insurance means many people incur medical debt. As of April 2021, an estimated 23% of Black working-age adults had medical debt, along with 20% of Hispanic working-age adults, and 16% of white working-age adults (Medical Debt, by Race).
Adults over 64 are not included in this indicator as they have the highest rates of health insurance coverage because most are eligible for Medicare.2
“What Does the CPS Tell Us About Health Insurance Coverage in 2020?” Tolbert, Orgera, and Damico. Kaiser Family Foundation. September, 2021. https://www.kff.org/uninsured/issue-brief/what-does-the-cps-tell-us-about-health-insurance-coverage-in-2020/
“Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2015”. Barnett, Vornovitsky. U.S. Census Bureau. September, 2016. https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2016/demo/p60-257.pdf
