The uninsured rate in the U.S. is on the decline, with about 27.6 million people of all ages (8.4%) uninsured last year—down from the 30 million (9.2%) people who were uninsured in 2021.
That’s according to Early Release of Estimates from the National Health Interview Survey, 2022, which shows that the share of Americans without health insurance fell 0.8%. Adults under age 65 were the most likely to be uninsured (12.2%), followed by children (4.2%) and adults 65 and over (0.6%). The percentage of people under age 65 with exchange-based coverage increased from 3.7% in 2019 to 4.3% in 2022.
In 2022, among adults aged 18–64, 12.2% were uninsured at the time of interview, 22.0% had public coverage, and 67.8% had private health insurance coverage.
Among children aged 0–17 years, 4.2% were uninsured, 43.7% had public coverage, and 54.3% had private health insurance coverage.
Among non-Hispanic White adults aged 18–64, the percentage who were uninsured decreased from 10.5% in 2019 to 7.4% in 2022.
The study found Hispanic adults were much more likely to lack insurance (27.6%), followed by non-Hispanic Black adults (13.3%). That’s substantially higher than the 7.1% and 7.4% uninsured rate for non-Hispanic Asians and non-Hispanic whites, respectively.
The data also revealed that insured rates tend to be lower in Medicaid expansion states. In 2022, among adults aged 18–64, those living in Medicaid expansion states were more likely to have public coverage (24.2%) than those living in non-Medicaid expansion states (17.0%). They were also less likely to be uninsured (9.1%) than their counterparts in non-Medicaid expansion states (19.2%).
Among adults in that age group in non-Medicaid expansion states, the percentage with public coverage increased from 15.1% in 2019 to 17.0% in 2022.
Also last year, 4.3% of people under age 65 had exchange-based coverage, with women (4.6%) more likely to have it than men (3.9%).
The percentage of adults who had public coverage in 2022 (22.0%) was not significantly different from the percentage who had public coverage in 2021 (21.7%).
The percentage of adults who had private coverage in 2022 (67.8%) was higher than the percentage who had private coverage in 2021 (66.6%).
All estimates in the report are based on preliminary data from the 2022 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The National Center for Health Statistics is releasing the 2022 estimates before final data editing and final weighting to provide access to the most recent information from NHIS.
