The U.S. Census Bureau has reported changes in health insurance coverage across the nation, showing that the uninsured rate for individuals under 65 decreased in 194 counties and increased in 85 counties between 2022 and 2023. These findings come from the Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE), which provides single-year estimates of health insurance coverage for people under age 65 at the county level.
SAHIE is recognized as the only source offering these annual estimates for all 3,143 U.S. counties. The data includes breakdowns by sex, age groups, and income levels relevant to state and federal assistance programs such as Medicaid eligibility. State-level estimates also include information on health coverage by race and Hispanic origin.
According to SAHIE, “1,455 or 46.3% of U.S. counties had an estimated uninsured rate below 10% in 2023, up from 45.2% of counties in 2022 and 39.2% in 2021.”
Other key points from the report indicate that the median county uninsured rate dropped slightly to 9.3% in 2023 from 9.4% in the previous year and was down from a rate of 10.4% recorded in 2021.
The report further notes: “Uninsured rates of working-age adults (ages 18 to 64) decreased in 182 counties and increased in 51 counties. Meanwhile, the uninsured rates of children (ages 0 to 18) decreased in 27 counties and increased in 89 counties.”
In terms of gender differences among working-age adults, “Working-age women had lower estimated uninsured rates than working-age men in 62.0% of counties (1,950).”
Additionally, “The median county uninsured rate of working-age adults living at or below 138% of poverty was 17.7%, down from 18.6% in 2022 and 20.3% in 2021.”
Those interested can access interactive data tools provided by the Census Bureau at www.census.gov/data-tools/demo/sahie to create custom tables, maps, and charts covering different geographic areas and demographic groups with data available annually since 2006.
