The percentage of people without health insurance coverage in 2023 was 8%, not significantly higher than the 7.9% uninsured rate in 2022, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released today.
The report Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2023, reveals health insurance coverage rates and type between 2022 and 2023 for children under age 19, working-age adults ages 19 to 64, and adults age 65 and older.
About a quarter of working-age adults in poverty were uninsured each year between 2020 and 2023.
The family income-to-poverty ratio provides a measure of a family’s economic resources. This ratio compares family income to a poverty threshold based on the age and number of family members.
People are classified as being in poverty if their family income is less than the poverty threshold. Family resources may determine the ability to afford private health insurance, and families below certain thresholds may qualify for public health insurance, such as Medicaid.
Age may also factor into individuals’ access to health insurance coverage and type.
Children under age 19 may have health coverage through a variety of sources, including a parent’s private plan or public programs like Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
Adults ages 19 to 64 generally have lower coverage rates than those under age 19 and adults age 65 and older. That’s because their coverage is often directly tied to employment. They do not qualify for programs intended for children and only qualify for public programs under specific medical or income-level circumstances.
From 2020 to 2023, the share of children under 19 and working-age adults ages 19 to 64 with health coverage differed depending on income and poverty levels.
Among those who lived below the poverty level:
One of the primary functions of health insurance is to make healthcare more affordable while protecting us from the financial repercussions of accidents and unexpected illnesses that can easily add up to thousands and thousands of dollars.
Healthy people and young adults may feel they don’t need health insurance, believing it is an expense they can forgo because they are rarely sick and have never spent a day in the hospital. But accidents and illnesses can happen to any of us at any time. Without health insurance, we are responsible for covering all of our medical costs, putting us at severe financial risk.
For example, a broken leg resulting from an unexpected fall can cost nearly $8,000 in health care expenses. Without insurance, you are responsible for that entire amount. But with a good insurance policy, you may only have to pay 20% of that cost, about $1,600.
The impact of having health insurance is even greater for more severe illnesses because it helps you avoid large medical debts and protects your financial assets.
A three-day hospital stay can cost more than $30,000 — costs that are untenable without the aid of health insurance to cover at least some of the costs. A cancer diagnosis can lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs, resulting in financial ruin if we lack insurance.
In these major health situations, a health insurance plan’s out-of-pocket maximum will limit how much you spend on health care costs for the year. After your spending reaches this limit, the insurance plan will cover 100% of your costs for covered health services, no matter how much your medical bills total. You’ll still have to pay the monthly cost of the plan though.
Most insurance plans also provide prescription drug coverage, making prescriptions affordable and accessible for millions of people.
This plays a critical role in the care and management of chronic conditions and illnesses. More than 45% of the U.S. population relies on prescription drugs to manage illnesses and arrest disease progression, which helps to prevent costly medical complications, including hospitalizations.
But without health insurance, the cost of many prescriptions would be exorbitant — financially out of reach for millions of Americans.
Health insurance links people to a regular source of care, giving them access to an infrastructure and a network of providers who are able to work with patients in delivering comprehensive, continuous and coordinated health care services.
Ultimately, people can live longer, healthier lives because of access to ongoing care. Most health care plans offer preventive services, providing many vaccinations and screenings at no cost, thus preventing illnesses and ensuing complications.
Health insurance also covers preexisting conditions. This means if you have a diagnosis before you enroll, you’ll still qualify for health benefits. With health insurance, it is much easier for both the patient and provider to focus on prevention and wellness as well as the management of acute and chronic illnesses, leading to better health outcomes and lower costs.
By the same token, a lack of health insurance has a reverse effect, leading to more sickness, higher costs and even death.
Having health insurance can also reduce your stress. It creates a peace-of-mind effect, helping to alleviate fears about accumulating large medical debts.
At the same time, health insurance provides reassurances that you will have ready access to comprehensive care, eliminating fears of being shut out of the health care system. Health insurance also gives us a feeling that we are part of the health care system and that we are, in effect, taking care of ourselves by having a regular source of care that we can turn to.
There are other, less obvious but important benefits of having health care. Having health insurance, for example, results in less paperwork for the insured individual. Health plans keep medical records on their patients, documenting their current treatments and medical histories. As a result, the patient may not have to spend time filling out paperwork at the point of service. It is also easier to bill patients for services when they have insurance, eliminating time spent filling out financial forms.
Health insurance can also purge stigmas of being uninsured. People without insurance may feel marginalized or stigmatized. They may believe, for instance, that their lack of insurance is some type of failing on their part, a message to society that they cannot afford health insurance or they are irresponsible by not having it. As a consequence, they may be less likely to seek care and treatment until their condition or illness has progressed to a critical stage.
Conversely, insured individuals are much more likely to engage with the health care system, turning to their physicians for acute care needs as well as routine care such as annual physicals and screenings.