Which race is less likely to have health insurance?

Asked by: Millie Monahan  |  Last update: December 27, 2025
Score: 4.6/5 (61 votes)

African American and Hispanic individuals in the United States are more likely to be uninsured throughout adulthood than non-Hispanic individuals (Kirby and Kaneda 2010). Without insurance, people face considerable barriers in receiving health services.

What race has the least health insurance?

Uninsured Rates Vary Across and Within Racial and Ethnic Groups. 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. (See Figure 1.)

Who is least likely to have health insurance?

Who is uninsured: Most uninsured people are in low-income families and have at least one worker in the family. Reflecting the more limited availability of public coverage in some states, adults ages 19-64 are more likely to be uninsured than children.

What group has the least access to healthcare?

People with lower incomes are often uninsured,6,7,8,9 and minority groups account for over half of the uninsured population.

Why are Hispanics less likely to have health insurance?

A study by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research finds that Latinos are less likely to have health insurance due to lack of coverage through an employer and barriers such as citizenship restrictions on access.

The race-based inequalities in health insurance and health outcomes

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What is the healthiest race in America?

Whites are usually taken as the standard against which other groups are compared, but they are not necessarily in the best health. Hispanics appear to be healthier than whites on a number of measures, though not all. Asians are generally in better health than any other group (Hummer et al., 2004).

Why are African Americans less likely to have health insurance?

About half of those 30 million are people of color. Fourteen states have refused to expand Medicaid under the ACA, which is one of the reasons why people of color are disproportionately likely to be uninsured today. This includes some of the states with the largest populations of Black Americans.

What race uses Medicaid the most?

A larger share of Medicaid and CHIP enrollees are Hispanic and non- Hispanic Black than the U.S. population, and a smaller share are non-Hispanic White. Sources: 2020 T-MSIS Analytic Files Annual Demographic and Eligibility File, Release 1; 2020 Race/Ethnicity Imputation Companion File; 2019 American Community Survey.

Who spends the least on healthcare?

The countries with the lowest governmental health expenditure include South Sudan, Eritrea and Bangladesh. In 2021 the U.S. national health expenditure was at an all-time high. However, the projections indicate that total health expenditures will increase even more.

What is the uninsured rate for black people?

Since the implementation of the ACA's coverage provisions, the uninsured rate among nonelderly Black Americans decreased by 10 percentage points, from 20.9 percent in 2010 to 10.8 percent in 2022 (Figure 1).

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.

Which group is most likely to have health insurance?

Private health coverage rates ranged from 43.1% among American Indian and Alaska Native, non-Hispanic people to about 74.2% for White, non-Hispanic people. Lower rates of private coverage for some groups were partly offset by higher rates of public coverage for these groups.

What race has the most life insurance?

Black Americans are more likely to own individual life insurance than the general population. Fifty- eight percent of Black Americans own individual coverage, while just 52 percent of all Americans have individual coverage. Life insurance offered through an employer is a benefit Black Americans value.

Which race has the lowest income?

U.S. poverty rate in the United States 2023, by race and ethnicity. In 2023, 17.9 percent of Black people living in the United States were living below the poverty line, compared to 7.7 percent of white people. That year, the total poverty rate in the U.S. across all races and ethnicities was 11.1 percent.

Do minorities have less access to healthcare?

Compared with white persons, black persons and other minorities have lower levels of access to medical care in the United States due to their higher rates of unemployment and under-representation in good-paying jobs that include health insurance as part of the benefit package (Blendon et al., 1989; Trevino et al., 1991 ...

Who is most likely to not have health insurance?

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.

What race is most likely to have health insurance?

Nonelderly Hispanic people had the largest percentage point increase in coverage, with their uninsured rate falling from 32.6% to 19.1%. Nonelderly Black, Asian, and AIAN people also had larger percentage point increases in coverage compared to White people over that period.

Who is the largest payer of Medicaid?

Medicaid is the largest single payer of maternity care in the U.S., covering more than 40% of U.S. births and playing a critical role in ensuring healthy moms and babies. Medicaid accounts for 75% of public family planning dollars, every $1 of which saves Medicaid $7.09.

What age group is least likely to have health insurance?

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.

Why does racism still exist?

Things like unconscious bias, our upbringings, the kind of media we consume, and more all factor into what we think of others. Thanks to the persistence of racist beliefs in most societies, it's easy to categorize entire groups of people as “lazy,” “violent,” “loud,” and so on.

What is the biggest reason people in the US don t have health insurance?

Health Coverage by Age

The overall uninsured rate for working-age adults is lower than other age groups because of higher costs. According to a KFF analysis, 64 percent of uninsured working-age adults in 2022 cited high costs as the reason why they lacked coverage.

What race has the shortest life expectancy?

Life expectancy is lowest for AIAN people at 67.9 years, followed by Black people at 72.8 years, while White and Hispanic people have higher life expectancies of 77.5 and 80 years, respectively, and Asian people have the highest life expectancy at 84.5 years.

What is my ethnicity if I am white?

White. “The category 'White' includes all individuals who identify with one or more nationalities or ethnic groups originating in Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.” Some examples of these groups include: German, Italian, Lebanese, Cajun, Chaldean, Slavic, Iranian, French, Polish, Egyptian, Irish, and English.

What race eats the least healthy?

Blacks had substantially lower healthy eating index (HEI) (33.5 (10.2) vs. 43.9 (10.8) of 80 possible points, p<0.001), daily intake (grams) of total fiber (15.3 (8.1) vs. 22.9 (8.5), p<0.001), insoluble fiber (10.8 (6.9) vs.