Uninsured

New and noteworthy

Affordability Is the Issue Now, But Look for the Uninsured to Make a Comeback

A new column on the uninsured from President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman explains: “The uninsured is not the most politically salient problem in health care now, that’s affordability, nor is it the non-problem some say it is. But it’s coming back. And the problem of the chronically ill uninsured is glaring.” Read more.

Key Facts about the Uninsured Population

The number and share of people without insurance grew in 2024, increasing for the first time since 2019, according to KFF’s analysis of data from the American Community Survey (ACS). This issue brief describes trends in health coverage in 2024, examines the characteristics of the uninsured population , and summarizes the access and financial implications of not having coverage.

More on the uninsured population >>

Data and analysis

The Uninsured and Health Coverage

This Health Policy 101 chapter examines the share of the United States population who are uninsured, highlighting their demographics and the challenges they face because of the lack of coverage.

State Health Facts: Health Coverage & the Uninsured

Get data on health insurance status for the population overall and broken down by age, gender, and income. More than 800 up-to-date health indicators at the state level can be mapped, ranked, and downloaded through State Health Facts.

How Many Uninsured Are in the Coverage Gap?

An estimated 1.4 million uninsured individuals in the 10 states without Medicaid expansion, including many working adults, people of color, and those with disabilities, remain in the “coverage gap,” ineligible for Medicaid or for tax credits that would make ACA coverage affordable to them.

Key Facts on Health Coverage of Immigrants

This fact sheet provides an overview of health coverage for immigrants based on data from the 2023 KFF/LA Times Survey of Immigrants. As of 2023, half of likely undocumented immigrant adults and one in five lawfully present immigrant adults reported being uninsured.

Who was uninsured in 2024?

Latest Polling
9.8%

The share of people under age 65 without insurance
62%

The share of uninsured adults who said they were uninsured because coverage is not affordable
59%

The share of uninsured adults who said they or someone living with them had problems paying for health care
39%

The share of uninsured adults who reported delaying or not getting needed care or medication due to cost

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  • Data Note: California’s Young Uninsured – A Look at 19- to 34-Year Olds Pre-ACA Rollout

    Poll Finding

    A Data Note based on the Kaiser Family Foundation California Uninsured Baseline Survey In California, as across the United States, the young uninsured are a key piece of the new Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace puzzle. Having a good-sized component of young people, with their generally more robust health and less frequent need for medical care and prescription drugs, in the newly created insurance pools would provide an important counterbalance to the incoming group of…

  • Healthy Indiana Plan and the Affordable Care Act

    Fact Sheet

    This fact sheet provides an overview of the Healthy Indiana Plan, Indiana's 1115 waiver demonstration project, and how it relates to the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion.

  • The Uninsured and Their Health Care Needs: How Have They Changed Since the Recession?

    Issue Brief

    This analysis uses the Center for Studying Health System Change's (HSC) 2010 Health Tracking Household Survey, the 2007 HSC Health Tracking Household Survey and the 2003 HSC Community Tracking Household Survey to describe the uninsured population and how it has changed over the past decade, especially between 2007 and 2010 when the recession caused many with previously stable coverage to become uninsured. It finds that although the uninsured population remains disproportionately made up of younger…

  • Faces of the Medicaid Expansion: How Obtaining Medicaid Coverage Impacts Low-Income Adults

    Report

    The Affordable Care Act (ACA) seeks to fill the longstanding gap in Medicaid coverage for low-income adults by expanding eligibility to a minimum floor of 138% of the federal poverty level (FPL), or $24,344 for a family of 3 in 2012. However, the Supreme Court ruling on the ACA effectively made implementation of the Medicaid expansion a state choice. If a state does not expand Medicaid, poor uninsured adults in that state will not gain…

  • New Report Provides State-Level Data on Coverage Gains and Costs of the Medicaid Expansion in Health Reform

    News Release

    Analysis Projects Steep Decreases in Uninsured, With Federal Government Covering Vast Majority of CostsWASHINGTON -- The expansion of Medicaid under the new health reform law will significantly increase the number of people covered by the program and markedly reduce the uninsured in states across the country, with the federal government picking up the overwhelming majority of the cost, according to a state-by-state analysis released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU).…

  • Side-by-Side Comparison of Major Health Care Reform Proposals

    Issue Brief

    On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and a week later, signed into law the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, which made some changes to the comprehensive health reform law. Summary of Final Health Care Reform Law (.pdf) Download a printable comparison of the new health reform law (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), the House-passed Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act…

  • With More than Half of Medicaid Enrollees Awaiting their Renewal Process, New Report Highlights Lessons Learned that Can Inform State Efforts and Reduce Disenrollments for “Procedural” Reasons

    News Release

    At the beginning of 2024, nine months into states’ efforts to unwind the Medicaid continuous enrollment provision and reverify enrollees’ eligibility, states have completed renewals for less than half of all enrollees. To gain a better understanding of what challenges states are facing and the effects of different unwinding strategies, KFF interviewed state Medicaid officials in Arizona, Indiana, and Pennsylvania, as well as others involved, including representatives from Medicaid, managed care plans, legal aid organizations,…