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

Stay informed.

Stay informed.

Filter

511-520 of 1,313 results

  • Medicaid: Purchasing Prescription Drugs

    Issue Brief

    Medicaid: Purchasing Prescription Drugs A policy brief explaining how Medicaid purchases outpatient drugs and outlining the policy tools available to states to limit the rate of growth in spending on prescription drugs. Policy Brief (28 pages)

  • External Review of Health Plan Decisions — Policy Brief

    Issue Brief

    An 8-page policy brief on the external review of health plan decisions to inform the policy debate in California and nationally. The policy brief covers external review systems in other states and the Medicare program, the current status of external review in California, and issues regarding the design and implementation of external review. Policy Brief: External Review of Health Plan Decisions Policy Brief: External Review of Health Plan Decisions

  • Native Americans and Medicaid: Coverage and Financing Issues

    Other Post

    Native Americans and Medicaid:Coverage and Financing Issues Medicaid and Welfare Until 1996, families with children who received cash assistance under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program were automatically entitled to Medicaid coverage. The welfare law enacted that year, Public Law 104-193, repealed the AFDC program and created a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant to the states. The 1996 welfare law also severed the automatic eligibility linkage between welfare and…

  • CHIP TIPS: CHIP Financing Structure

    Issue Brief

    This brief, the fourth in a series, examines important changes to CHIP’s financing structure under the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009. The law includes a number of important programmatic and financing changes that affect both Medicaid and CHIP. Among the most important changes include significant new funding for the CHIP program, changes in the formula for distributing CHIP funds among states and a new option for states to decide whether to use…

  • Emergency Departments Under Growing Pressure

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief relies on interviews with practicing clinicians to explore the impact of the recession on hospital emergency departments that are under growing pressure as patient volume increases, health coverage declines and medical costs present new challenges to unemployed families. Issue Brief (.pdf)

  • How Will Uninsured Children Be Affected By Health Reform?

    Issue Brief

    This brief examines uninsured children and how they could be affected by health reform, including estimates of how many might qualify for coverage under a Medicaid expansion, how many would be eligible for subsidies and how many would not be eligible for such help. Issue Brief (.pdf)

  • Eroding Access among Nonelderly Adults with Chronic Conditions: Ten Years of Change

    Report

    A Kaiser study published as a Health Affairs web-exclusive article finds the number of working-age adults who have major chronic conditions grew by 25 percent between 1997 and 2006 and those without health coverage in this group experienced substantial erosion in access to health care. The study also reveals that finds the cost of prescription drugs more of a problem today for all with chronic conditions, regardless of insurance coverage status. Health Affairs Abstract Health…

  • Pulling It Together: A Recovery Raises Expectations Too

    Perspective

    New Orleans is a city still struggling with the aftermath of Katrina and the levee breaks. The people of New Orleans feel that the nation and the federal government have largely forgotten them. Those are the results of our 2008 survey of the people of New Orleans, the second in a series we are doing to track progress in the recovery from the perspective of the residents of the city themselves. As the head of a…

  • New Study Examines the Current Spending on Health Care for the Uninsured and Projects the Cost of Additional Medical Care if the Population Were Insured

    Report

    This study examines the current spending on care for the uninsured and projects additional medical spending if the population had health insurance coverage. The study finds that the uninsured will spend $30 billion out-of-pocket for health care in 2008 while receiving $56 billion in uncompensated care, three quarters of which will be from government sources. The study is an update of a previous Kaiser study and also projects the additional cost to the nation’s health…

  • Resources Examine Medicaid Enrollment Growth And State Budget Pressures

    Fact Sheet

    This package of resources examines the substantial enrollment growth in Medicaid between June 2008 and June 2009 and provides a mid fiscal-year 2010 update on key state Medicaid issues, including the impacts of the economic downturn. News ReleaseWith the country in a deep recession, nearly 3.3 million more people were enrolled in state Medicaid programs in June 2009 compared to the previous June, according to a new analysis, Medicaid Enrollment: June 2009 Data Snapshot (updated for…