Indicator: Health insurance coverage

Why it matters

Uninsured children have limited contact with health care services and more serious health problems, and forgo or do not receive essential health care or use more expensive medical services more often than those with insurance. These issues influence attendance, concentration, and participation in school, as well as future educational and labor market outcomes. Health insurance coverage is also important for adults and is tied to improved health care quality and access, as well as satisfaction with one’s health. Although programs like the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Medicaid can help families with low incomes obtain low- or no-cost health insurance coverage, not all eligible individuals enroll, due to both real and perceived procedural barriers. In fact, more than one-quarter of uninsured people in 2020 were eligible for Medicaid or CHIP, and nearly two-thirds of these eligible uninsured individuals were people of color.

Although insurance coverage has increased over time, and disparities in coverage fell after the Affordable Care Act went into effect, the likelihood of insurance coverage among Indigenous and Latino children and adults remains significantly lower than other groups. In 2019, 22 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native adults and 20 percent of Latino adults were uninsured, compared to 11 percent of Black adults, 8 percent of White adults, and 7 percent of Asian adults. Coverage rates are higher among children than adults, but disparities are similar. In 2018, American Indian and Alaska Native children were three times more likely to be uninsured than Asian, Black, and White children (13 versus 4 percent), and Latino children were twice as likely to be uninsured than their Asian, Black, and White peers (8 versus 4 percent).