The uninsured rate in the U.S. has declined by 26% over the past several years, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC's National Center for Health Statistics reported (PDF) that the number of uninsured people decreased by 8.2 million between 2019 and 2023. The report shows that 10.9% of working age adults were uninsured in 2023, down from 14.7% in 2019.
About 25 million Americans across all age groups, or 6%, did not have insurance in 2023. Of that, 2.8 million children were uninsured in 2023, or 3.9%.
By comparison, 33.2 million, or 10.3% of Americans, were uninsured in 2019.
Just over 5% of children, or 3.7 million, were uninsured in 2019, according to the report.
The CDC said that the data only dates back to 2019 due to changes in the methodology for the National Health Interview Survey, on which the report is based. The survey has been conducted since 1957.
Most younger people (64.4%) were enrolled in private coverage last year, with 28.6% enrolled in public coverage. The number of people under 65 enrolled in plans through the Affordable Care Act's exchanges grew from 3.7% in 2019 to 4.8% in 2023.
Nearly a quarter (24.8%) of Hispanic adults were uninsured, according to the report, the largest rate among ethnic groups called out in the analysis. About 10% of Black adults, 6.8% of white adults and 4.4% of Asian adults were uninsured by comparison.
The uninsured rate among white adults under 65 decreased from 10.5% in 2019, according to the report.
Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office also released data on trends around coverage, which was published in Health Affairs late Tuesday ahead of print. The study projects that the uninsured rate will again rise over the next decade, reaching 8.9% in 2034 as flexibilities introduced during the COVID-19 come to an end. The analysis projects that 7.7% of the U.S. population, or about 26 million, are uninsured as of 2024.
Marketplace enrollment is expected to reach an all-time high in 2025 amid record enrollment growth, and an aging population will drive additional people into Medicare, accrording to the study.
The researchers said that data on insurance enrollment released by CBO late last year did not fully account for some of the changes in both Medicaid and the exchanges.
"According to recent administrative and survey data, the CBO’s September 2023 projections underestimated the enrollment effects of Medicaid’s continuous eligibility provisions and the enhanced Marketplace subsidies," they wrote. "Along with updated economic and demographic projections, those outcomes informed the CBO’s updated coverage projections presented in this article."