Home Uninsured Topics

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.

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 >>

Latest News

More KFF Health News

Subscribe to KFF Emails

Choose which emails are best for you.
Sign up here

View the Latest: Uninsured

Filter

List Grid

891 - 900 of 1,308 Results

  • Uninsured Tutorial

    Interactive

    This tutorial was produced for kaiserEDU.org, a Kaiser Family Foundation website that ceased production in September 2013. The kaiserEDU.org tutorials are no longer being updated but have been made available on kff.org due to demand by professors who are using the tutorials in class assignments. You may search for other tutorials to view on kff.org.

  • Profiles of Medicaid Outreach and Enrollment Strategies: The Cook County Early Expansion Initiative

    Issue Brief

    The brief provides an overview of the Cook County, Illinois “CountyCare” early expansion waiver experience, which may help inform continued efforts as the Medicaid expansion is implemented across states. It finds that, in just over 12 months, more than 82,000 Cook County residents successfully enrolled in CountyCare coverage, allowing the state and county to get a significant jump start on the Medicaid expansion. Illinois implemented the full Medicaid expansion in January 2014 and automatically transitioned CountyCare enrollees to the expansion. As of March 2014, CountyCare members account for nearly half of the total statewide enrollment of adults into the Medicaid expansion.

  • Health Coverage and Care in the South: A Chartbook

    Report

    The South has faced longstanding disparities in health and health care, although significant variation exists between southern states. As a group, compared to those in other regions, Southerners are more likely to be uninsured, less likely to have access to needed health services, and more likely to experience a number of chronic health conditions. This chartbook provides key data on the demographic and economic characteristics of the southern population as well as their health status, health insurance coverage, and access to care today.

  • Measuring Changes in Insurance Coverage Under the Affordable Care Act

    Issue Brief

    This data note discusses the details and timing of some of the private and federal surveys that will be used to look at how coverage has changed due to the Affordable Care Act. Different surveys offer different information and insight into coverage under the ACA, and we discuss the contributions and challenges in each type of effort.

  • The Cost of Not Expanding Medicaid

    Report

    As states wrap up legislative sessions and make decisions about whether to implement the Medicaid expansion included in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), this new analysis highlights the implications of these decisions for coverage, state budgets and providers. The decisions by as many as 27 states not to adopt the Medicaid expansion will leave a many more uninsured; these states would also forgo billions in federal funds.

  • What is Medicaid’s Impact on Access to Care, Health Outcomes, and Quality of Care? Setting the Record Straight on the Evidence

    Issue Brief

    Medicaid now covers more than 1 in every 5 Americans, and millions of uninsured individuals will become newly eligible for Medicaid under the ACA. Considering Medicaid’s large and growing coverage role, an evidence-based assessment of the program’s impact on access to care, health outcomes, and quality of care is of major interest. This brief takes a look at what the research literature shows regarding the difference Medicaid makes.