Uninsured

New and noteworthy

Quote from KFF President and CEO Drew Altman reads, "when it comes to the “affordability crisis” driving the national discussion of health care today, the chronically ill, and most of all the chronically ill uninsured, are the tip of the spear."

The Group that Struggles the Most in American Health Care

In a new column, Dr. Drew Altman, KFF’s Founding President and CEO, previews findings about the chronically ill uninsured from a large KFF survey of 25,000 Americans focusing on the cost and access challenges facing the chronically ill, which will be released tomorrow. He writes: “There are more than enough needs to go around in American health care, but if I had to pick the one group that struggles the most with costs and access, it would be people with chronic illnesses who are also uninsured.”

Other “Beyond the Data” columns >>

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.

Data and analysis

The coverage gap exists because some states did not expand Medicaid under the ACA to cover adults under age 65 without dependent children with incomes at/below 138% of the federal poverty level (FPL)

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 ACA tax credits that would make coverage affordable.

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.

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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  • Does the Affordable Care Act Cover the Uninsured?

    From Drew Altman

    Drew Altman, in The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, discusses what a new Foundation survey finds about one of the biggest questions about the Affordable Care Act: whether it covers the uninsured.

  • National Survey Finds 10.6 Million People Helped By Navigators and Assisters During the Affordable Care Act’s First Open Enrollment Period

    News Release

    An estimated 10.6 million people nationally received personal help from navigators and assisters during the Affordable Care Act's first open enrollment period, finds a new Kaiser Family Foundation survey of navigators and assister programs nationally. The survey estimates that the 4,400 assister programs operating nationally had an estimated 28,000 full-time staff and volunteers, suggesting each assister would have helped more than 370 people on average during the six-month open enrollment period that ran from October…

  • Web Briefing: What Worked, What’s Next? Strategies in Four States Leading ACA Enrollment Efforts

    Event Date:
    Event

    On Monday, July 28, the Kaiser Family Foundation held an interactive web briefing to examine the experiences and lessons of four states -- Colorado, Connecticut, Kentucky, and Washington -- that each established state-based Marketplaces, expanded their Medicaid programs, and successfully enrolled eligible individuals into Medicaid and Marketplace coverage under the ACA.  The briefing drew upon a new issue brief released today by the Foundation’s Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU), What Worked and…

  • Web Briefing: What Worked, What’s Next? Strategies in Four States Leading ACA Enrollment Efforts

    News Release

    On Monday, July 28 from 1 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. EDT, the Kaiser Family Foundation will hold an interactive web briefing to examine the experiences and lessons of four states - Colorado, Connecticut, Kentucky, and Washington - that each established state-based Marketplaces, expanded their Medicaid programs, and successfully enrolled eligible individuals into Medicaid and Marketplace coverage under the ACA. The briefing will draw upon a new issue brief released today by the Foundation’s Kaiser Commission…

  • A Perilous Gap In Health Insurance Literacy

    News Release

    In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, A Perilous Gap In Health Insurance Literacy, Drew Altman discusses how progress in expanding coverage requires greater attention to the problem of health insurance literacy. All previous columns by Drew Altman are available online.

  • Five Key Questions And Answers About Section 1115 Medicaid Waivers

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief provides an overview of what Section 1115 Medicaid waivers are, how they are approved and financed, how states have used them, and how they are impacted by health reform. For many years, Section 1115 waivers have been used by states to test new coverage approaches not otherwise allowed under Medicaid program rules. Some waivers have also raised important policy issues. Since the passage of the health reform law, several states, including California,…

  • The Texas Health Care Landscape

    Fact Sheet

    This fact sheet summarizes the Texas health care landscape, including data on demographics, population health, the uninsured and the state Medicaid program. Fact Sheet (.pdf)

  • 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).…