New Studies: Geographic and Demographic Variation in Health Insurance Coverage

Nearly 25 million working age adults in the United States (ages 18-64) were without health insurance in 2021, according to new data from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. Texas, Georgia, and North Carolina had the highest rates of uninsured among this group.

The data are captured in two new reports using data from the National Health Interview Survey: “Demographic Variation in Health Insurance Coverage: United States, 2021” and “Geographic Variation in Health Insurance Coverage: United States, 2021.”

Some of the findings from the demographic report include:

• Overall, 28 million Americans did not have health insurance in 2021, including almost 3 million children.

• Among adults ages 18-64, nearly 13% did not have health insurance.
• Almost two-thirds of people under age 65 with health insurance are covered by private health insurance, including over half with employer-based coverage.

Highlights from the geographic report include:

• Among adults under age 65, Texas (29.4%), Georgia (19.2%), and North Carolina (17.6%) had uninsured rates that were higher than the national rate of 12.6%.
• Adults ages 18-64 who live in non-Medicaid expansion states (19.1%) were twice as likely to be uninsured compared to those living in Medicaid expansion states (9.4%).
• Among adults under age 65, there were several states with uninsured rates that were lower than the national rate: Illinois (8.7%), Ohio (8.7%), Pennsylvania (8.0%), Virginia (8.0%), Washington (8.0%), Wisconsin (7.7%), New York (6.9%), Kentucky (6.5%), Maryland (6.5%), Michigan (6.1%), and Massachusetts (3.0%).

The two reports are available at the following links:

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr176.pdf

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr177.pdf