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.

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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271 - 280 of 1,309 Results

  • Access To Health Care:

    Report

    Promises and Prospects For Low-Income Americans This book explores critical issues affecting access to health care for low-income Americans by assessing the importance of expansions of health coverage for the poor, the emerging challenges providers who serve low-income and uninsured populations face in a rapidly evolving health care delivery system, and the effects of these changes on particularly vulnerable populations. Articles include: IntroductionMarsha Lillie-Blanton, Rose Marie Martinez, Barbara Lyons, Diane Rowland A Review Of The…

  • Medicaid and the Elderly

    Other Post

    Long-Term Care Spending In 1993, Medicaid spent $25.5 billion for long-term care services for elderly beneficiaries (Figure 5). This represents 58 percent of the $44 billion Medicaid spent on long-term care services for all population groups. The majority of spending was for care delivered in nursing facilities (84 percent) and ICFs-MR (2 percent). The remaining 14 percent of Medicaid long-term care spending went towards community-based care, including 3 percent for mental health services and 11…

  • Covering the Uninsured: Options for Reform

    Issue Brief

    Download PDF Key Facts on the Uninsured In 2007, 45 million nonelderly people in the United States lacked health coverage More than eight in ten uninsured people (81%) come from working families About two-thirds of the nonelderly uninsured are from low-income families (income below 200% of poverty, about $42,400 for a family of 4 in 2007) More than one in three people (35%) living in poverty are uninsured, compared with one in twenty people (5%)…

  • Optimizing Medicaid Enrollment: Spotlight on Technology – Oklahoma’s Automatic Newborn Enrollment System

    Issue Brief

    This brief examines Oklahoma's web-based system for automatically enrolling in its Medicaid program, SoonerCare, and provides an overview of the state's more recent implementation of an online SoonerCare application for children and families, pregnant women, and other adults. It is the fourth brief in a Spotlight on Technology series profiling several states' innovative applications of technology to Medicaid enrollment efforts. The series illustrates a range of approaches that states can adopt to improve their systems…

  • Health Policy 101 Introduction

    Feature

    Health Policy 101 is a comprehensive guide covering fundamental aspects of U.S. health policy and programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, employer-sponsored insurance, the uninsured population, health care costs and affordability, women's health issues, and health care politics. It includes overviews of private health insurance regulation, racial and ethnic disparities, public health, international comparison of health systems, U.S. global health policy, and the federal role in health policy. The chapters can be downloaded…

  • The politics of health care are as broken as the system (and are a reason it is broken). For decades, Democrats and Republicans have not been able to agree on any major solutions to our health care problems and disagree sharply on the role of the federal government in health, forcing us to gravitate to smaller incremental changes where there might be some agreement.

    A One-Pager on What’s Wrong with U.S. Health Care

    From Drew Altman

    Asked for a one-pager on what's wrong with the U.S. health system, Dr. Drew Altman, Founding President and CEO, explains the top issues in this piece, published today as his latest column. Altman explains, "We have neither a competitive health care system nor a regulated one—we have a fragmented, micromanaged health system that fails to control costs and makes both patients and health professionals more miserable than they should be..."

  • Map shows the percentage point increase in the uninsured population due to the budget reconciliation package based on CBO estimates, by state. An Additional 10M People Nationwide Could be Uninsured in 2034 Due to the Budget Reconciliation Law

    How Will the 2025 Reconciliation Law Affect the Uninsured Rate in Each State?

    Issue Brief

    This analysis apportions the increase in the number of uninsured across the 50 states and DC. CBO estimates that the reconciliation law will increase the number of uninsured by 10M in 2034 and rise to over 14M if enhanced premium tax credits for ACA Marketplace enrollees expire later this year.

  • Access to Care for the Insured and Remaining Uninsured: A Look at California During Year One of ACA Implementation

    Issue Brief

    California is a bellwether state for understanding the impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Much attention has been paid to enrollment in California's new coverage options, such as the Medicaid expansion (Medi-Cal) and plans sold through ACA marketplaces (Covered California), and to changes in the uninsured from 2013 to 2014. However, less is known about how this coverage has affected people’s access to care and financial security, and why others remain uninsured. This report,…