The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) has released the first early estimates of national uninsurance levels for 2017. Nationwide, 10.3% of nonelderly Americans (ages 0 to 65) were uninsured during the first quarter of 2017. This level is statistically unchanged from 10.0% during the first quarter of 2016.
The Big Picture: Ongoing Stability
The new estimates, which come from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), show that uninsurance was stable across age, race/ethnicity, and income groups when comparing the first quarter of 2016 to the first quarter of 2017.
- The only exception was a significant increase in uninsurance among the nonelderly with household incomes at or above 200% of the federal poverty level, among whom uninsurance grew from 5.7% in the first three months of 2016 to 6.9% in the first three months of 2017.
- There was also a drop of 1.7 percentage points in uninsurance among the nonelderly from 18% in the first three months of 2016 to 16.3% in the first three months of 2017, but this decrease was not statistically significant.
The general stability in uninsurance from 2016 to 2017 mirrors the stability seen from 2015 to 2016, which was preceded by historic declines from 2013 to 2014 and from 2014 to 2015.
Disparities among Sub-Groups Persist
Disparities in uninsurance levels continue to be seen among certain subpopulations. In the first quarter of 2017:
- 22.6% of adults (ages 18 to 64) in poverty were uninsured
- 17.0% of adults ages 25 to 34 were uninsured
- 24.1% of adults who are Hispanic were uninsured
- 30.4% of adults who had less than a high school education were uninsured
At 8.6%, uninsurance in the first quarter of 2017 was significantly lower among adults (ages 18-64) in states that expanded Medicaid than in states that did not expand Medicaid, where the uninsurance rate for this group was 18.4%.
Of note, the gap between uninsurance levels in expansion and non-expansion states for the first quarter of 2017 was wider than the gap seen in the first quarter of 2016 (see figure at right). It will be important to continue to track the size of this gap as additional NHIS data are released.
For more information about the early 2017 NHIS estimates, read the NCHS brief. Estimates for the first quarter of 2016 are available here.
A Note about the Numbers
The above estimates provide a point-in-time measure of uninsurance, indicating the percent of persons without coverage at the time of the interview. First quarter refers to January through March.
Citation
Cohen, R.A., Martinez, M.E., & Zammitti, E.P. August 29, 2017. “Health Insurance Coverage: Early Release of Estimates from the National Health Interview Survey, January-March 2017.” National Center for Health Statistics: National Health Interview Survey Early Release Program. Available at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/earlyrelease/insur201708.pdf