Print

45 Million Are Uninsured

More than 45 million Americans ages 18-64 have no healthcare coverage.

In 2007, there were more than 45 million Americans under age 65 who did not have healthcare coverage, or about 17% of people under age 65. It is estimated that by 2010, there will be at least 7 million more people without health insurance (Gilmer and Kronick, 2009).

HealthLandscape has a map showing the number of uninsured in Greater Cincinnati. To see this map, please click here.

Being uninsured means that you do not have any health insurance—not through an employer, an individual policy, or a public program. You are most likely to be uninsured if you:

  • Live in a low-income household.
  • Are age 19-24.
  • Are single.
  • Are African-American or Hispanic.

Having a job does not guarantee that you have health insurance. Almost 1 in 4 people living in a household where at least one member works full-time is uninsured (Kaiser Commission, 2008). Some people with health problems do not have health insurance because insurance companies, fearing big medical bills, refuse to sell it to them or require such high premiums that the people cannot afford it. A small number of mostly younger people could afford health insurance but do not buy it because they believe they do not need it.

Not having insurance makes it much harder to get the care you need. For example, Americans who are uninsured for a year or more have a lot more trouble seeing a doctor, having a check-up, being screened for cancer, and getting diabetes care (Ayanian, et al., 2000). If you go without care, it is more likely that a disease or condition will progress to the stage where you need more intensive—and more expensive—care than you would have needed if you had used preventive care or early intervention services.

Sources

Gilmer, Todd P. and Richard G. Kronick. 2009. Hard times and health insurance: how many Americans will be uninsured by 2010? Health Affairs 28(4): w573-w577. www.content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/hlthaff.28.4.w573.

Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. 2008. The Uninsured: A Primer: Supplemental Data Tables. www.kff.org/uninsured/upload/7451_04_Data_Tables.pdf.

Ayanian, John Z., Joel S. Weissman, Eric C. Schneider, et al. 2000. Unmet health needs of uninsured adults in the United States. JAMA 284(16): 2061-2069. www.jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/284/16/2061

.

Since 1997, The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati has invested over $111 million in projects that improve the health of the Cincinnati area. With major healthcare reform imminent, the Health Foundation aims to be a source for credible, timely information that can inform people in our region about the healthcare reform debate. While we do not support any specific plan or approach, we do support certain principles that we believe would improve access to healthcare and make our region healthier.

The Health Foundation supports a healthcare system that:

Please visit http://www.healthfoundation.org/reform for more information.