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Comparing Federal Government Surveys That Count the Uninsured: 2023

Tatiana "Annie" Gowlovech, Research Assistant
Elliot Walsh, Research Dissemination Coordinator
Robert Hest, Senior Research Fellow
Andrea Stewart, Research Fellow
June 06, 2024
How many Americans are uninsured? The exact answer is unclear, but general estimates can be obtained by comparing various federal government surveys that estimate uninsurance.
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SHADAC has recently updated our annual “Comparing Federal Government Surveys that Count the Uninsured” brief following the release of new insurance coverage estimates from surveys conducted by the US Census Bureau, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Accurate estimates of the number of people that do not have insurance coverage (also referred to as uninsured or uninsurance) are important in understanding trends and the impacts of actions (policy changes), events (like public health emergencies), or shifts in the economic landscape (like periods of recession) that may affect health insurance coverage.

The brief provides an annual update to comparisons of uninsurance estimates from five federal surveys. As in prior years, we have included estimates from:

This year we have included data from an additional source:
In this brief, SHADAC provides up-to-date and past national uninsurance estimates, as well as the latest state-level estimates from surveys (where feasible). 
 
We also analyze the primary factors contributing to variations in these estimates among surveys, along with potential reasons for their incomparability both within and across surveys.
View and download the Comparing Federal Government Surveys 2023 Brief to learn more about our findings and analysis.
Interested in insurance coverage trends? Learn more with the following SHADAC products: