While 2020 has been a year of chaos, new data from the U.S. Census Bureau at least offers a clear view of how health insurance access had been progressing up until the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, between 2018 and 2019, Medicare coverage decreased, employer-sponsored coverage increased (maybe), and the overall uninsured rate decreased. (Click through the slides above to take a closer look at the numbers) More specifically, according to the latest data, 92% of people had health insurance for all or part of 2019, and 55.4% were covered by an employer-sponsored health plan. In 2018, 55.2% were covered. Though this appears to be a small increase, the Bureau noted that a lower response rate during this year's collection period (March and April) than in past years that could impact the accuracy of the latest figures. Related: COVID-19 and the uninsured rate: What's the deal? "Given the circumstances during CPS ASEC data collection, we cannot disentangle real changes in health insurance coverage between 2018 and 2019 from changes due to operational adaptations due to the pandemic," study authors noted. In fact, the results of the survey could point to a trend in coverage: While overall 92% of people reported having health insurance coverage at some point during 2019, just 90.8% said they were insured at the time of the interview. The uninsured rate rose in 2019 for 19 states, with just one state noting a decrease. Massachusetts continues to boast the lowest uninsured rate at just 3%, followed by Rhode Island, Hawaii and Vermont. Texas fell farther behind in 2019, with an uninsured rate of 18.4%. Census data also continues to support the correlation between Medicaid expansion and a lower uninsured rate. Census authors also note that the timing of the studies used to gather data have also muddied the results, with one set of information showing a 0.3% increase in the uninsured rate and the other showing a 0.4% decrease. "Higher employment in the latter part of the year may not be reflected in coverage estimates at time of interview, but may be captured by measures of any coverage in the previous calendar year," the authors note. "At the same time, the operational changes to data collection required due to the COVID-19 pandemic may also have contributed to higher estimates of employer-provided coverage." Private health insurance--either through an employer or individual plan--is still the most common option, covering 68% of people at some point during the year, compared to 34.1% enrolled in a public program. While Medicaid coverage showed a drop of 0.7% (possibly due to the previously noted collection issues), more recent studies have pointed to a significant increase--by as much as 7% to 11% between February and August. Insurance coverage also varies according to demographics such as age and race. Children under age 19 and adults over the age of 65 are more likely to be insured due to the availability of public programs such as Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program. According to Census data, just 1.1% of older adults were uninsured for the entire 2019 year, as well as just 5.2% of children. Among different ethnicities, the uninsured rate is highest for Hispanics (16.7%) and Blacks (9.6%). While the specific numbers may be called into question, the latest data continues to highlight the overall trends in health care coverage, including inequities caused by race and income level. These disparities have only increased as a result of the pandemic and economic instability. Read more: |

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