Characteristics of Individuals With and Without Health Insurance, 2009 (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
March 2, 2011 |
| Report Number |
R41665 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Carol Rapaport, Analyst in Health Care Financing |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
Almost 51 million people, or 16.7% of the U.S. population, had no health insurance for at least some of 2009. In fact, the aggregate uninsurance rate over the past decade was never less than 13.4%. Individuals living in poorer families, young adults between ages 19 and 25, and Hispanics were especially likely to be uninsured. On the other hand, individuals over 65, who are almost always eligible for Medicare, were the least likely to be uninsured. An extensive body of research suggests that those without health insurance are more likely to face worse health outcomes than those with insurance.
This report examines the characteristics of the uninsured and those insured by private and public health insurance using data from the (March) Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the 2010 Current Population Survey (CPS). The insurance information in the 2010 CPS supplement covers calendar year 2009, the most recent year for which CPS data are available. The first part of the report compares very broad groups of individuals under age 65. Those particularly likely to be uninsured included the groups listed above, single men, children living in families headed by single men, those living in the South and West, and noncitizens. In addition, individuals living in families where the primary worker was employed by a small firm or was employed less than full-time and full-year were more likely to be uninsured than those living in a family where the primary worker was employed by a larger firm or had a full-time position for the entire year. Groups particularly likely to receive publicly funded insurance included single mothers and those in families with incomes lower than the poverty threshold.
The second section of the report compares two methods of measuring the uninsured. Using citizenship status as an example, the report analyzes uninsurance both in terms of the percentage of each citizenship status in the total pool of the uninsured (e.g., about 75% of the pool of the uninsured were native-born citizens), and in terms of the percentage of each citizenship status who were uninsured (e.g., about 16% of native born citizens were uninsured).
The third part of the report compares more narrow groups of "representative" individuals, who were largely similar but differed across a single dimension. For example, the specific effects of an individual's race and age on the likelihood of being uninsured are isolated. Among individuals who were 40 years old, native born, and lived with a spouse and children in the Northeast, those who were white were 8.1% likely to be uninsured, whereas those who were black were 10.8% likely to be uninsured. On the other hand, among all individuals, those who were white were 14% likely to be uninsured, whereas those who were black were 22.5% likely to be uninsured.
The final part of the report examines uninsurance rates over the past 10 years. The uninsurance rate increased during and after the relatively short economic recession of the early 2000s and during the relatively longer recession of the late 2000s.
