CDC reports on uninsured in first six months of 2019

An estimated 9.5% of U.S. residents, or 30.7 million people, lacked health insurance when surveyed in the first six months of 2019, according to preliminary estimates from the National Health Interview Survey released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That’s not significantly different from the survey’s uninsured rate for 2018, although direct comparisons with earlier years should be made with caution due to changes in weighting and design methodology, the authors said. The uninsured rate for adults under age 65 was 10.0% in Medicaid expansion states, compared with 20.2% in non-expansion states. Hispanic adults (27.2%) were more likely than black (13.6%), white (9.8%), and Asian (7.4%) adults to be uninsured in this age group.

Among children, 4.4% were uninsured, 41.6% had public coverage, and 55.8% had private coverage.

The CDC estimates precede the COVID-19 emergency. As the coronavirus crisis hits the nation’s economy, a recent Kaiser Family Foundation analysis estimates that 26.8 million people could become uninsured due to loss of job-based coverage.