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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
Other key facts about the uninsured >>

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411-420 of 1,312 results

  • Uninsured Children in the South

    Fact Sheet

      Over 4 million children living in the South have no health insurance coverage. While the South experienced a decrease (3 percent) in the number of uninsured children from 1989 to 1993 -- the number of uninsured children nationally increased by 9 percent (Figure 1) -- the region accounts for a dispro-portionately high share of uninsured children in America. Over a third (36 percent) of American children live in the South, but the region accounted…

  • New Numbers on Enrollment of Uninsured Children

    Report

    This report reveals that the total number of children enrolled in state CHIP programs had grown to 1.8 million by December 1999, a 112% increase from December 1998. Although enrollment doubled in 20 states during that year, growth did begin to moderate in several states that had implemented their programs relatively earlier on. The report also demonstrates that enrollment of new children continued at roughly the same pace during the second half of 1999 as…

  • Health News Index – January/February 2000

    Poll Finding

    Health News Index January/February, 2000The January/February 2000 edition of the Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health, Health News Index includes questions about major health stories covered in the news, including questions about the presidential candidate's health care proposals and their stands on abortion as well as a report on the declining rate of abortion. The survey is based on a national random sample of 1,006 Americans conducted February 4-8, 2000 which measures public knowledge…

  • How Well Does the Employment-Based Health Insurance System Work for Low-Income Families?

    Other Post

    Part 3 What Explains the Coverage Decline? Rapidly rising health care costs-or, more precisely, employers' responses to costs-have contributed to the widespread erosion of employer coverage. As employers have shifted costs to workers, participation has dropped. Low-wage workers have been disproportionately affected by rising costs, losing access to coverage as well as finding participation more difficult. Their problems have been exacerbated by structural changes in labor markets, which have weakened the tie between jobs and…

  • Pulling It Together: Jobs, A Reason to Fast Track Coverage

    Perspective

    The two big topics in Washington right now are the economy and health care.  I've written before about how the two are linked, and in particular about how among the everyday economic problems people are having, paying for health care is a big one. But the latest numbers out from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show there is another link: Health care is one of the few relatively healthy parts of our unhealthy economy right now. Since…

  • National Health Insurance — A Brief History Of Reform Efforts In The U.S.

    Issue Brief

    This policy brief provides an overview of health reform efforts in the United States over much of the last century, from New Deal-era calls for government-subsidized health coverage to the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960s and the failed attempt at universal coverage in the early 1990s. Issue Brief (.pdf)

  • Survey of Healthy San Francisco Participants

    Poll Finding

    This survey of enrollees in Healthy San Francisco (HSF), the city’s health care access program for the uninsured, reports high rates of satisfaction and signs that the program has improved access to care for those uninsured residents who have enrolled. In 2006, San Francisco created a unique health access program to provide access to affordable basic and ongoing health care services for its uninsured residents at participating clinics and hospitals. All uninsured city residents not…

  • Protecting Children During the Recession: Spotlight on State Health Coverage Efforts

    Issue Brief

    The beginning of the recession, from December 2007 through December 2008, led to an increase in the overall number of uninsured. Despite a 1.5 million increase in the number of uninsured adults, however, the number of uninsured children declined by 800,000 during this time period. States have played a key role in this progress for children by maintaining and expanding children's coverage. This issue brief highlights seven states (Alabama, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma,…

  • Pulling it Together: The Most Popular Provision in the ACA?

    Perspective

    In our most recent monthly tracking poll, we asked the American people what elements of the health reform law they like and dislike. Surprisingly, the runaway favorite was a relatively obscure requirement that health plans provide consumers with a short, easy to understand description of their benefits and coverage. Sixty percent of the American people gave this requirement for greater transparency in health insurance benefits a very favorable rating, the only provision in the law…

  • Putting Men’s Health Care Disparities on the Map: Health Status Highlights

    Report

    This fact sheet provides a brief overview of racial disparities in health status among men of different races in the United States. It draws findings from the report, Putting Men’s Health Care Disparities On the Map, which uses national data sources from multiple years to generate state-level estimates on a range of indicators of health status, access, and well-being for men of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Women and men of different races and ethnicities…