AHRQ Stats: Declining Rates of the Uninsured

The rate of uninsured American adults declined significantly between 2013 and 2014. The percentage of adults ages 18 to 64 who were uninsured for the entire calendar year fell from 18.8 percent (35.6 million) in 2013 to 14.4 percent (27.4 million) in 2014. (Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Statistical Brief #488: The Uninsured in America: Estimates of the Percentage of Non-Elderly Adults Uninsured Throughout Each Calendar Year, by Selected Population Subgroups and State Medicaid Expansion Status: 2013 and 2014.)

STATISTICAL BRIEF #488:
The Uninsured in America: Estimates of the Percentage of Non-Elderly Adults Uninsured throughout Each Calendar Year, by Selected Population Subgroups and State Medicaid Expansion Status: 2013 and 2014

June 2016

Jessica P. Vistnes, PhD and Brandy J. Lipton, PhD

The percentage of non-elderly adults ages 18-64, uninsured for the entire calendar year ("the uninsured rate") declined from 18.8 percent (35.6 million adults) to 14.4 percent (27.4 million adults) between 2013 and 2014.
The uninsured rate declined between 2013 and 2014 for adults ages 18-35, 36-54, and 55-64 in both Medicaid expansion and non-expansion states. In states that expanded Medicaid, the decline was larger for adults ages 18-35, than for adults ages 55-64, narrowing the percentage point difference in the uninsured rates between these two age groups in 2014.
Uninsured rates declined between 2013 and 2014 for Hispanic, white, black and Asian non-elderly adults ages 18-64. The percentage point difference in the uninsured rates for Hispanic non-elderly adults and white non-Hispanic adults decreased between 2013 and 2014, overall and in Medicaid expansion states.