Health Insurance Coverage Trends in the United States During 2012

• The number of people with health insurance increased to 263.2 million in 2012 from 260.2 million in 2011, as did the percentage of people with health insurance (84.6 percent in 2012, 84.3 percent in 2011). • The percentage of people covered by private health insurance in 2012 was not statistically different from 2011, at 63.9 percent. This was the second consecutive year that the percentage of people covered by private health insurance coverage was not statistically different from the previous year's estimate. The percentage covered by employment-based health insurance in 2012 was not statistically different from 2011, at 54.9 percent. • The percentage of people covered by government health insurance increased to 32.6 percent in 2012, from 32.2 percent. The percentage covered by Medicaid in 2012 was not statistically different from 2011, at 16.4 percent. The percentage covered by Medicare rose over the period, from 15.2 percent in 2011 to 15.7 percent in 2012. Since 2009, Medicaid has covered more people than Medicare (50.9 million compared with 48.9 million in 2012). • The percent of children younger than 18 without health insurance declined to 8.9 percent (6.6 million) in 2012 from 9.4 percent (7.0 million) in 2011. The uninsured rates did not show a statistical change for all other age groups: 19 to 25, 26 to 34, 35 to 44, 45 to 64 and people 65 and older. • The uninsured rate for children in poverty (12.9 percent) was higher than the rate for children not in poverty (7.7 percent). • In 2012, the uninsured rates decreased as household income increased from 24.9 percent for those in households with annual income less than $25,000 to 7.9 percent in households with income of $75,000 or more. Source: U.S. Census Bureau

According to a study of a 5% sample of all Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries with continuous Part A and B coverage:

• Beneficiaries with 10 or more chronic conditions were over 6 times more likely to be readmitted to a hospital within 30 days of discharge, than beneficiaries with 1 to 4 chronic conditions • Beneficiaries with 10 or more chronic conditions comprised only 8.9% of all Medicare beneficiaries and 31.0% of all hospitalizations, but they were responsible for 50.2% of all readmissions • The 31.8% of beneficiaries with 5 to 9 chronic conditions (55.5% of all hospitalizations) had the second highest odds ratio (2.5) for readmissions, and were responsible for 45% of all readmissions Source: "Medicare beneficiaries most likely to be readmitted," Journal of Hospital Medicine, abstract only, August 28, 2013, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jhm.2074/abstract

Today's Datapoint

37 million … people who now receive employer-based health insurance may be “better off” buying coverage on the insurance exchanges, according to a study published in the September issue of Health Affairs by Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., a professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Quote of the Day

“To me, [criticism of the delays announced by some of the exchanges] is much ado about nothing. We all knew that implementation of exchanges was a tall order, and not an easy thing to digest in one big open enrollment.” — Fred Karutz, senior vice president of business development at ConnectedHealth, a company that works with insurers to implement private exchanges, told AIS’s Health Reform Week.

Today's Datapoint

57% … of Americans say they oppose efforts by Congress to withhold funding for the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, with just 36% approving, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll.

Quote of the Day

“I’d expect most [exchanges] will be live by Oct. 1, some perhaps delayed a week or two. There are many, many moving parts and it is highly unlikely all will mesh together seamlessly the first time around. If they did, they would be the only part of our health care ‘system’ that actually works seamlessly, efficiently and correctly." — Joseph Paduda, principal at Health Strategy Associates, LLC, told AIS’s Health Plan Week.

Today's Datapoint

80 … Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed an Aug. 22 letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) asking him to trigger a government shutdown rather than fund the Affordable Care Act.