What percentage of adults in the US are without health insurance?

Asked by: Eusebio Gerhold  |  Last update: December 8, 2025
Score: 4.3/5 (22 votes)

The Share of Americans Without Health Insurance in 2023 Remained Low. In 2023, 26 million people — or 8 percent of the population — were uninsured, according to a report in September 2024 from the Census Bureau.

What percentage of the US population does not have health insurance?

According to newly released data from the National Health Interview Survey, in Q1 2024 the national uninsured rate for all ages was 8.2 percent, which corresponds to 27.1 million individuals.

What percentage of American adults do not have life insurance?

Only about 52%1 of Americans have life insurance. That leaves a lot of people who either haven't gotten around to getting coverage or decided they don't need it.

How many older adults do not have health insurance?

The analysis focuses on coverage among people ages 0-64 since Medicare offers near universal coverage for people ages 65 and older, with just 457,000, or less than 1%, of people over age 65 uninsured.

Does over 90% of the United States population have health insurance coverage?

In 2022, most people (92.1 percent) had health insurance coverage at some point during the calendar year (Table 1 and Figure 1).

Fact Check: 85 million Americans without health insurance?

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Which US state has the highest uninsured health rate?

Texas is home to the country's largest share of Americans under 65 without health insurance, according to new Census Bureau data, with 18.8% of residents uninsured as of 2022.

What happens in America if you can't afford healthcare?

Americans are no longer taxed for not carrying health insurance. Medical debt contributes to a large number of bankruptcies in America. Access to quality primary care is critical, but doctors have the right to refuse patients without insurance or who are able to pay out-of-pocket expenses.

What age group is most uninsured?

Young Adults (Ages 18 Through 24 Years)

Almost three out of every ten young adults do not have health insurance. Members of this age group are nearly twice as likely to be uninsured compared to members of the general population under age 65.

Who pays for uninsured patients?

Hospitals do get help with the unpaid bills – from taxpayers. The majority of hospitals are non-profits and are exempt from federal, state and local taxes if they provide a community benefit, such as charitable care. Hospitals also receive federal funding to offset some of the costs of treating the poor.

What percent of people over 65 use Medicare?

Most adults age 65 and older qualify for Medicare coverage, the main reason coverage rates in that age group were 98.9% in 2022. A small percentage of them (9.2% in 2022) have additional types of public health insurance through the government besides just Medicare.

What happens when someone dies and they don't have life insurance?

If you die without life insurance or any available funds to cover your final expenses, the responsibility for handling your body and related costs will typically fall on your family or next of kin.

What is the average death benefit payout?

The average life insurance payout in the U.S. is about $168,000, according to Aflac. However, the payout of your life insurance policy will depend on the face amount (death benefit) you choose and any money accelerated, borrowed against or withdrawn from the policy prior to the payout.

What is the life income option?

The life income option is a life insurance settlement option under which a beneficiary may have policy proceeds converted to a life annuity for the beneficiary.

How many immigrants in the US don't have health insurance?

As of 2023, half (50%) of likely undocumented immigrant adults and one in five (18%) lawfully present immigrant adults reported being uninsured compared to less than one in ten naturalized citizen (6%) and U.S.-born citizen (8%) adults.

What are the consequences of being uninsured?

Lack of insurance reduces timely and efficient use of high quality medical care. Lower medical care use reduces health. Poor health reduces ability to work and educational attainment. Lower productivity and education reduce earnings.

How many Americans have medical debt?

According to the CFPB, 100 million Americans owe $220 billion in medical debt. George told me that medical debt has had several devastating impacts on his life: Inability to borrow money for a mortgage or a car.

Will hospitals still treat you without insurance?

If you have a serious medical problem, hospitals must treat you regardless of whether you have insurance. This includes situations that meet the definition of an emergency. Some situations may not be considered true emergencies, such as: Going to the ER for non-life-threatening care.

Who pays for homeless medical bills?

Gavin Newsom's administration standardized payment for street medicine through California's Medicaid program, called Medi-Cal.

Why is US healthcare so expensive compared to other countries?

There are many possible factors for why healthcare prices in the United States are higher than other countries, ranging from the consolidation of hospitals — leading to a lack of competition — to the inefficiencies and administrative waste that derive from the complexity of the U.S. healthcare system.

Why do so many Americans not have health insurance?

uninsurance has been attributed to a number of factors, including rising health care costs, the economic downturn, an erosion of employer-based insurance, and public program cutbacks. Developing effective strategies for reducing uninsurance requires understanding why people lack insurance coverage.

What is the poorest age group?

In 2021, 11.6% of all persons lived at or below the poverty threshold. This proportion was greater for persons under age 18 (15.3%) than for those ages 18-64 (10.5%) and those above age 64 (10.3%).

What race is the most uninsured?

Uninsured rates are higher among Latino, American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN), Black, and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) people than among Asian, white, and multiracial people.

Which health insurance denies the most claims?

According to the analysis, AvMed and UnitedHealthcare tied for the highest denial rate, with both companies denying about a third of in-network claims for plans sold on the Marketplace in 2023, respectively.

What country has the best healthcare?

According to the 2024 Mirror, Mirror report, Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom have the best healthcare systems, though the differences in overall performance among most countries are relatively small.

Which state does not require health insurance?

New Jersey, California, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia require their residents to have health insurance coverage or face penalties. Vermont recommends that residents have coverage, but there's no noncompliance penalty.