Census: Uninsured rate climbs to 8.5% in 2018

An estimated 27.5 million U.S. residents (8.5%) lacked health insurance at some point in 2018, up from 25.6 million (7.9%) in 2017, the Census Bureau reported today. Public health coverage decreased by 0.4 percentage point, including a 0.7 point drop in Medicaid coverage and 0.4 point increase in Medicare coverage. Employer-based insurance remained the most common, covering 55.1% of the population. The percentage of uninsured children rose by 0.6 percentage point to 5.5%. The uninsured rate increased in eight states and fell in three.