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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.

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
Other key facts about the uninsured >>

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  • The Cost of Cancer

    Video

    This Kaiser Family Foundation documentary explores the financial consequences faced by three people, all privately insured, after being diagnosed with cancer. It was released in conjunction with a joint Kaiser/American Cancer Society report, "Spending To Survive: Cancer Patients Confront Holes in the Health Insurance System." The Cost of Cancer: Tom Olszewski Tom Olszewski, a retiree who lives in Texas, had prostate cancer but has been in remission for a decade. His medical history made it…

  • Increasing Medicaid Payments for Certain Primary Care Physicians in 2013 and 2014: A Primer on the Health Reform Provision and Final Rule

    Issue Brief

    To help ensure that access in Medicaid expands to meet anticipated higher demand for care, the health reform law requires states to pay certain physicians Medicaid fees that are at least equal to Medicare’s for a list of 146 primary care services in 2013 and 2014. The idea is to attract new physicians to Medicaid and provide greater support for physicians who already participate. As a result, Medicaid fees paid to certain physicians for primary…

  • Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — April 2012

    Feature

    The April poll gauged Americans' opinions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the wake of the Supreme Court oral arguments in the legal challenges to the health reform law in March. The increased public attention to the Affordable Care Act generated by the Supreme Court's consideration of the law did not meaningfully change the public's opinion of the law overall or of the specific provision at the heart of critics' legal case against it,…

  • West vs. South: Regional Differences in Views of the Health Reform Law

    Poll Finding

    This Data Note examines regional variations in public opinion of the health reform law based on the November 2010 Kaiser Health Tracking Poll. The analysis takes a special look at the Western and Southern regions of the country, where many states are likely to see the biggest increases in coverage under the law, and which stand to be disproportionately eligible for federal Medicaid funds. Despite these similarities in how the two regions might be affected,…

  • Medicaid Spending Growth over the Last Decade and the Great Recession, 2000-2009

    Report

    This report examines Medicaid spending growth nationally during the last decade, with a focus on growth during the recession of 2007 to 2009. The recession-driven enrollment growth in recent years drove program spending to increase faster than national health spending overall, but on a per enrollee basis the growth in Medicaid spending has remained lower than the rise in private insurance premiums and overall national health expenditures. The recession-driven increase in Medicaid enrollment has been…

  • Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — December 2010

    Feature

    As 2010 draws to a close, the latest tracking poll shows the public still divided in their views of the health reform law, a sentiment largely unchanged since the law’s enactment in March. Forty-two percent of Americans say they have a generally favorable view of the law, while 41 percent have a generally unfavorable view of it. Seniors, generally more critical of the law than younger people, seem to be softening in their opposition as…

  • Alternatives for Financing Medicaid Expansions in Health Reform

    Report

    Expanding Medicaid to cover low-income populations has been a fundamental component of leading health reform proposals. The House Leadership Bill would expand Medicaid to 150 percent of the federal poverty level and the Senate Leadership Bill would expand Medicaid to 133 percent of the federal poverty level. In both scenarios the federal government would finance a substantial share of costs for the expansion groups.  This analysis, however, shows that it is possible to distribute increased…

  • Toplines: Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — July 2009

    Poll Finding

    This document contains the toplines from the July Health Tracking Poll. The survey was designed and analyzed by public opinion researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation and was conducted July 7 through July 14, 2009, among a nationally representative random sample of 1,205 adults ages 18 and older. Telephone interviews conducted by landline (800) and cell phone (405, including 126 who had no landline telephone) were carried out in English and Spanish. The margin of…

  • Managed Care and Low-Income Populations: A Case Study Of Managed Care In Florida

    Report

    This study is part of a larger initiative, the Kaiser/Commonwealth Low-Income Coverage and Access project funded by both the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and The Commonwealth Fund, to gauge the impact of health restructuring on access and health insurance coverage for low-income populations in seven states through surveys, focus groups and case studies. The aim of the studies is to provide early insights and timely analyses that will assist other states and other efforts…

  • The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System: Thirteen Years of Managed Care in Medicaid

    Other Post

    This report provides an overview of the Arizona Medicaid experience and contains valuable insights into the evolution and experience of a mandatory statewide Medicaid managed care program covering both acute care and long-term care services. Note: This publication is no longer in circulation. However, a copy may still exist in the Foundation's internal library that could be reproduced. Please email order@kff.org if you would like to pursue this option.