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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.

State Health Facts: Health Coverage & the Uninsured

Get data on health insurance status for the population overall and broken down by age, gender, and income. More than 800 up-to-date health indicators at the state level can be mapped, ranked, and downloaded through State Health Facts.

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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  • Congressional Testimony on Expanding Health Care Coverage

    Event Date:
    Event

    On May 5, 2009, the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance held a roundtable discussion on health-care coverage issues as part of its health reform efforts. Diane Rowland, the Foundation's Executive Vice President and Executive Director of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, and Gary Claxton, Foundation Vice President and Director of the Health Care Marketplace Project, participated in the discussion and prepared written testimony at the committee's request. Testimony of Diane Rowland (.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)

  • Pulling it Together: A Note on Presidential Leadership Strategy

    Perspective

    In inside circles of the health reform debate there has been criticism of the President for not weighing in earlier and publicly on the details of health reform legislation. Does he want the Senate's approach to employer obligations, or the approach taken in the House? What form of public option does he want: a robust one, a trigger, an opt-in, an opt-out, or none at all? What level of premiums and cost sharing is he…

  • Coping with Fragmented Payment in the Real World

    Event Date:
    Event

    The Alliance for Health Reform and The Commonwealth Fund sponsored this briefing which focused on three communities that have reformed and harmonized health care payments across payers to improve care: a New York health center that serves a low income population; a Colorado community that pools money from public and private sources to provide care for all patients; and the State of Maryland, which has been using an all payer hospital rate setting system for…

  • Medicaid and SCHIP Eligibility for Immigrants

    Fact Sheet

    Immigrants in the U.S. face increasing challenges securing health care coverage. They have less access to employer-sponsored insurance than native citizens and face tighter restrictions on their eligibility for Medicaid and SCHIP, the nation’s major public health coverage programs for low-income children and families. This fact sheet provides an overview of the current rules on immigrants' eligibility for Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Fact Sheet (.pdf)

  • National Council of Jewish Women features article on “Diagnosing Women’s Health Care”

    Other Post

    National Council of Jewish Women features article on “Diagnosing Women’s Health Care” Kaiser Vice President and Director of Women's Health Policy, Alina Salganicoff, authored an article titled "Diagnosing Women’s Health Care" featured in the National Council of Jewish Women's magazine, NCJW Journal, volume 29. The article highlights the special challenges that many women face in affording and accessing comprehensive health care in the U.S. It discusses the state of women's health coverage, emerging issues for…

  • Enrolling Uninsured Low-Income Children in Medicaid & SCHIP

    Fact Sheet

    This fact sheet outlines issues in outreach and enrollment for Medicaid and SCHIP. It provides a profile of eligible but uninsured children, discusses the greatest barriers to enrollment, and offers strategies to improve enrollment. Fact Sheet (.pdf)

  • 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…

  • Explaining Health Care Reform: Questions About Medicaid’s Role

    Issue Brief

    Medicaid plays a major role in covering more of the uninsured under the new health reform law. The new law includes a significant expansion of Medicaid, an individual requirement to obtain health insurance, and subsidies to help low-income individuals buy coverage through newly established Health Benefit Exchanges. This brief explains the how Medicaid works today and answers some key questions about Medicaid’s role in health reform. Issue Brief (.pdf)