Dive Brief:
- The CDC's National Center for Health Statistics has released a study of health insurance coverage for the civilian non-institutionalized US population, concluding that during the first three months of 2014, 41 million people of all ages (or 13.1% of the US population) were uninsured.
- The study, which involved interviews with 27,627 individuals, also concluded that 29.9 million (9.6%) has been uninsured for more than a year at the time of interview.
- The highest rate of public coverage was in the Northeast (19.9%) and the highest rates of private coverage were in the Northeast (67.6%) and Midwest (70.8%).
Dive Insight:
This study offers many notable insights about public and private coverage rates, coverage trends among regions and age clusters, but a few stand out. And the stats that stand out underscore the gargantuan task the US faces in offering something like coverage for all.
First, it's very important to note that 41 million Americans are still uninsured, a stat which has remained essentially unchanged for a decade or more. (Clearly, the ACA hasn't made a big impact here yet.) One would think that this number might have moved somewhat as states roll out Medicaid expansions and the ACA marketplaces mature, but that's not the case.
Also, while the characteristics of the uninsured population vary, it's worth pointing out that many employed persons don't have health insurance. Given that many Americans work for small businesses that aren't required to supply health insurance, it's not surprising that during this period 16.3% of employed Americans were uninsured. And given that most small businesses in the US are below 50 people, their insured status is unlikely to change.
Yet another point emerging from the study was that families with incomes above 100% of the federal poverty level but below 400% of the federal poverty level are facing an impossible bind. Those with incomes above 400% tend to have private health insurance, and those with incomes below 100% tend to have public coverage, but those in between—basically, the middle class—do not tend to have private or public insurance. Until or unless the ACA marketplaces offer subsidies for higher income persons closer to the 400% level, these families are unlikely to obtain coverage.