Adults Face Drops in Private Coverage

By NU ONLINE NEWS SERVICE

Published 6/29/2011 

The percentage of U.S. adults ages 18 to 64 who were uninsured rose rapidly between 2009 and 2010 because of a drop in the private plan participation rate.

Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have published those figures in a release of data gathered through the National Health Interview Survey.

The CDC based the survey report on interviews with 89,665 U.S. residents.

Almost all legal U.S. residents ages 65 and older have health coverage through Medicare.

The researchers found that the United States has had better success with providing health coverage for children than for adults ages 18 to 64.

Only 7.8% of the survey participants’ children were uninsured at the time of the interview, compared with 22% of the adults ages 18 to 64.

The uninsured rate for children fell to 7.8% in 2010, from 8.2% in 2009.

The overall uninsured rate for adults ages 18 to 64 increased to 22.3%, from 21.1%.

For all adults ages 18 to 64, participation in public plans increased to 15%, from 14.4%, as participation in private plans fell to 64.1%, from 65.8%/

But for “poor adults,” participation in public health programs fell to 38.8%, from 40.3%. For “near poor adults,” public program participation fell to 23.7%, from 24.5%.

Public program participation rates for adults ages 18 to 64 who are not poor increased to 8.1%, from 7.6%.

- Allison Bell

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CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article described the year-over-year change in the public plan participation rate for all U.S. adults ages 18 to 64 incorrectly. The public plan participation rate increased.