Census: Uninsured rate falls to 8.3% in 2021 

An estimated 27.2 million U.S. residents (8.3%) lacked health coverage when surveyed in 2021, down from 28.3 million (8.6%) in 2020, according to Current Population Survey data released yesterday by the Census Bureau. Public coverage increased by 1.2 percentage points to 35.7%, driven by a 0.9-percentage-point increase in Medicaid coverage. The uninsured rate for children decreased 0.6 percentage point to 5%, driven in part by an increase in public coverage. These estimates include the effects of COVID-19-related economic changes during this period and increased federal funding to extend continuous coverage through Medicaid and CHIP during the public health emergency.