In 2020, 8.6% of Americans, or 28 million, did not have health insurance at any point during the year, according to “Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2020,” released by the U.S. Census Bureau in September.
The report is based on information collected in the Current Population Survey Annual Social & Economic Supplement and notes that the nation experienced an economic recession last year related to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Highlights of the report include:
In 2020, private health insurance coverage continued to be more prevalent than public coverage at 66.5% and 34.8%, respectively.
Of the subtypes of health insurance coverage, employment-based insurance was the most common, covering 54.4% of the population for some or all of the calendar year, followed by Medicare (18.4%), Medicaid (17.8%), direct-purchase coverage (10.5%), TRICARE (2.8%), and Department of Veterans Affairs or the Civilian Health & Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs coverage (0.9%).
Between 2018 and 2020, the rate of private health insurance coverage decreased by 0.8 percentage points to 66.5%, driven by a 0.7 percentage-point decline in employment-based coverage to 54.4%.
Between 2018 and 2020, the rate of public health insurance coverage increased by 0.4 percentage point.
