Long-Term Uninsured in America, 2005-2008: Estimates for the U.S. Cvilian Noninstitutionalized Population under Age 65. Statistical Brief Number 294

摘要

Estimates of the health insurance status of the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population are critical to policymakers and others concerned with access to medical care and the cost and quality of that care. Health insurance helps people get timely access to medical care and protects them against the risk of expensive and unanticipated medical events. When estimating the size of the uninsured population, it is important to consider the distinction between those uninsured for short periods of time and those who are uninsured for several years. Using information from the Household Component of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS-HC) for 2007 and 2008, this Statistical Brief provides detailed estimates for the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized non-elderly (under age 65) population that was uninsured for the entire 2005-2008 period and identifies groups most at risk of lacking any coverage during that four-year period. The inclusion of questions in MEPS to determine health insurance coverage profiles for the period covering 2005 and 2006, in concert with information on health insurance profiles from the National Health Interview Survey for 2006, facilitated these analyses of extended longitudinal profiles. All differences between estimates discussed in the text are statistically significant at the 0.05 level unless otherwise noted. FindingsAccording to the MEPS-HC for 2007 and 2008, 34.5 percent (91.2 million people, estimate not shown) of the under-65 population was uninsured for at least one month during the full two-year period (calendar years 2007 and 2008), and 11.5 percent (30.3 million people, estimate not shown) was uninsured for the entire two-year period. Nearly two-thirds of those individuals lacking coverage for all of 2007-2008 were also without coverage for the entire prior 2005-2006 two-year period. This translates to 7.3 percent (19.2 million people, estimate not shown) of the total population under age 65 being uninsured for the entire four-year period from 2005 through 2008. The age groups 18 to 24 and 25 to 29 were the most likely to be uninsured for some time during 2007 to 2008. For persons 18 to 24 and 25 to 29, 58.0 and 53.5 percent were uninsured for at least one month or more, respectively (figure 1). Conversely, children less than 18 were the least likely to be continuously uninsured for the same two-year period as well as for the entire 2005-2008 four-year period. Only 2.6 percent of children less than 18 years were uninsured for the entire 2005-2008 four-year period.