WEDNESDAY, May 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- A total of 9.5 percent of persons were uninsured from January through June 2019, according to a report published online May 28 by the National Center for Health Statistics.
Robin A. Cohen, Ph.D., and colleagues from the National Center for Health Statistics used data from the January to June 2019 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to present estimates of health insurance coverage for the civilian noninstitutionalized U.S. population.
The researchers found that at the time of interview, 30.7 million persons (9.5 percent) were uninsured. Among adults aged 18 to 64 years, 13.7, 20.4, and 67.7 percent were uninsured, had public coverage, and had private health insurance coverage, respectively. Of children aged 0 to 17 years, 4.4, 41.6, and 55.8 percent were uninsured, had public coverage, and had private health coverage, respectively. Among those aged 18 to 64 years, men were more likely than women to be uninsured (15.4 versus 12.1 percent) and Hispanic adults were more likely to be uninsured than non-Hispanic black, non-Hispanic white, and non-Hispanic Asian adults (27.2 versus 13.6, 9.8, and 7.4 percent, respectively). Overall, 4.6 percent of adults were covered by private health insurance plans obtained through the Health Insurance Marketplace or state-based exchanges.
"In 2019, the NHIS questionnaire was redesigned to better meet the needs of data users," the authors write. "Due to changes in weighting and design methodology, direct comparisons between estimates for 2019 and earlier years should be made with caution."
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