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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.

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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  • Vermont Health Care Reform Plan

    Fact Sheet

    On May 25, 2006, Vermont Governor Jim Douglas signed into law comprehensive health care reform legislation. The plan is designed to increase access to affordable health care while reducing cost through quality improvement measures. The plan requires employers to provide or help finance coverage for their workers. For individuals, participation in the new coverage program is voluntary, though the state legislature will reevaluate the need for an individual mandate if 96 percent of state residents…

  • Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — August 2011

    Feature

    The August tracking poll examines the views of Americans without health insurance, with a particular focus on how they think the health reform law will affect them. Findings from the poll include: Although estimates are that 32 million uninsured Americans will gain coverage under the ACA, only about half of non-elderly Americans currently without coverage say they are familiar with the chief components in the law designed to achieve this goal. Perhaps because awareness of…

  • Pulling it Together: 19.7

    Perspective

    Several years ago Joanne Silberner from NPR offered some advice I liked. Joanne said that the secret to effective communication was to "have a killer anecdote and a killer number." Here is a killer number: 19.7. That's the average number of years between major attempts at health reform since Harry Truman made health reform a top priority and his plan was branded a socialist plot and soundly defeated in 1950. The chart below chronicles the…

  • Pulling It Together: Keeping the Health Reform Coalition Together

    Perspective

    We could be headed for a new schism in the debate about health reform. Not the familiar gulf between advocates of the market and government, or the predictable one between deficit hawks and spenders, but a new one that crosses traditional partisan and ideological lines between advocates of long-term reform of the health care delivery system, and immediate help for the uninsured and insured struggling with health care costs.  This new rift is most likely to develop if tight money and a crowded agenda…

  • Summary of Findings: Privatization of Public Hospitals

    Poll Finding

    This Summary presents background, findings, and data from the Economic and Social Research Institute's (ESRI) full report, Privatization of Public Hospitals. Section I provides background about public hospital conversions, including the role of public hospitals, reasons for conversion, the mechanisms of conversion and new ownership entities, and analysis of national and regional public hospital data. Section II provides a discussion of the five case studies of public hospital conversions and the key findings from the…

  • Retiree Health Benefits Now and In the Future – Chartpack

    Report

    This chartpack (charts used at the briefing releasing this survey), from the survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Hewitt Associates between June and September 2003, provides detailed information on retiree health programs offered by large private-sector employers. The data in this survey reflect the responses of 408 large firms (private-sector employers with 1,000 or more workers) and provides information on eligibility, benefits, premiums, and total cost in 2003, and offers insights as to…

  • Medicaid Financing: An Overview of the Federal Medicaid Matching Rate (FMAP)

    Issue Brief

    Since its enactment in 1965, the Medicaid program has used the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) to determine the federal government's share of the cost of covered services in state Medicaid programs. On average, the federal share has been 57 percent. Beginning in 2014, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) establishes highly enhanced FMAPs for the cost of services to low-income adults with incomes up to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) who are not…

  • Health Coverage for the Unemployed

    Issue Brief

    This policy brief outlines the challenges facing the unemployed as they seek to remain insured after losing jobs and employer-sponsored health coverage. In May 2011, 13.9 million people in the U.S. were unemployed. Of these, 6.2 million had been unemployed for six months or more and faced limited options to remain insured. The brief examines potential sources of insurance, including through a spouse's plan, COBRA, the non-group insurance market and public programs. It also discusses…

  • Medicaid Spending Growth and the Great Recession, 2007-2009

    Fact Sheet

    This fact sheet examines how the recent recession drove up Medicaid enrollment as millions of Americans lost jobs and income, and how that increase in enrollment has been the primary cause of the increase in overall Medicaid spending. Fact Sheet (.pdf)