A new report by the National Center for Health Statistics (“NCHS”) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) highlights a continuing decline in the number of people in the United States without health insurance.
The report, which presented selected estimates of health insurance coverage for the civilian non-institutionalized U.S. population based on data from a January-March 2015 National Health Interview Survey (“NHIS”), along with comparable estimates from the 2010–2014 NHIS, found that the number of uninsured persons continued to decline from 2013.
In the first three months of 2015, 29 million persons of all ages (9.2 percent) were uninsured at the time of interview, seven million fewer persons than in 2014.
Among adults aged 18–64, the percentage uninsured decreased from 16.3 percent in 2014 to 13.0 percent in the first three months of 2015. There was a corresponding increase in private coverage, from 67.3 percent to 70.4 percent, according to the NCHS report.
Among children under age 18 years, the report found, the percentage with private coverage increased from 52.6 percent in 2013 to 56.3 percent in the first three months of 2015, reversing a 14-year trend of declining rates of private coverage.
Among those under age 65, the percentage with private coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace or state-based exchanges increased from 2.5 percent (6.7 million) in the last three months of 2014 to 3.6 percent (9.7 million) in the first three months of 2015.
From January through March 2015, the percentage of persons uninsured at the time of interview was 9.2 percent (29.0 million), a decrease of 2.3 percentage points from the 2014 uninsured rate of 11.5 percent (36.0 million). Seven million fewer persons lacked health insurance coverage in the first three months of 2015 when compared with 2014.
In the first three months of 2015, among adults aged 18-64, 13.0 percent were uninsured at the time of interview, 18.1 percent had public coverage, and 70.4 percent had private health insurance coverage. From 1997 through 2010, the percentage of adults aged 18-64 who were uninsured at the time of interview generally increased. More recently, the percentage of uninsured decreased from 22.3 percent in 2010 to 13.0 percent in the first three month of 2015. During this five year period, the NCHS said, there were corresponding increases in both public and private coverage among adults aged 18-64.
In the first three months of 2015 among children aged 0-17 years, 4.6 percent were uninsured, 40.4 percent had public coverage, and 56.3 percent had private coverage. The percentage of children who were uninsured decreased from 13.9 percent in 1997 to 4.6 percent in the first three months of 2015. From 1997 through 2010, the percentage of children with private coverage generally decreased and the percentage of children with public coverage generally increased. However, more recently, the percentage of children with public coverage has leveled off, and the percentage of children with private coverage has increased from 52.6 percent in 2013 to 56.3 percent in the first three months of 2015, according to the NCHS.
Learn more: Cohen RA, Martinez ME. Health insurance coverage: Early release of estimates from the National Health Interview Survey, January-March 2015. National Center for Health Statistics. August 2015. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/releases.htm.
Victoria Spears
Victoria Prussen Spears is senior vice president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn Law School, Ms. Spears was an attorney at a leading New York City law firm before joining Meyerowitz Communications. She may be contacted at [email protected].