Health Insurance Coverage: Early Release of Estimates From the National Health Interview Survey, January–June 2018

A new report from NCHS presents selected estimates of health insurance coverage for the civilian noninstitutionalized U.S. population based on data from the 2018 National Health Interview Survey, along with comparable estimates from previous calendar years. Estimates for the first 6 months of 2018 are based on data for 39,112 persons.

Key Findings:

• In the first 6 months of 2018, 28.5 million persons of all ages (8.8%) were uninsured at the time of interview—not significantly different from 2017, but 20.1 million fewer persons than in 2010.
• In the first 6 months of 2018, among adults aged 18–64, 12.5% were uninsured at the time of interview, 20.0% had public coverage, and 69.2% had private health insurance coverage.
• In the first 6 months of 2018, among children aged 0–17 years, 4.4% were uninsured, 43.4% had public coverage, and 53.6% had private health insurance coverage.
• Among adults aged 18–64, 69.2% (137.1 million) were covered by private health insurance plans at the time of interview in the first 6 months of 2018. This includes 4% (7.9 million) covered by private health insurance plans obtained through the Health Insurance Marketplace or state-based exchanges.
• The percentage of persons under age 65 with private health insurance enrolled in a high-deductible health plan increased, from 43.7% in 2017 to 46.0% in the first 6 months of 2018.