Health Insurance

This Issue Brief examines the impact of Medicaid throughout its six decades and highlights the importance of Medicaid coverage for low-income children and adults. The brief reviews studies showing that access to Medicaid coverage is associated with a significant improvement in health and mortality.

Newly released data from the National Health Interview Survey indicate no statistically significant change in the uninsured rate in the first quarter of 2024 from the previous year.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) makes improvements to Medicare to increase accessibility and affordability of prescription drugs for Medicare enrollees, reduce the rate of growth in Medicare drug spending, and improve the financial sustainability of the Medicare program.

These Fact Sheets highlight health care cost savings achieved under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for each of the fifty states and the District of Columbia. Enrollee savings on Medicare Part D out-of-pocket costs, insulin, vaccines, and Marketplace premiums are presented.

The uninsured rate among non-elderly American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) decreased from 32.4 percent in 2010 to 19.9 percent in 2022 – however, the AI/AN population continues to have the highest uninsured rate compared to other racial and ethnic populations.Related Products:

Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs) experienced larger relative gains in health insurance coverage than any other racial or ethnic group in the United States since the Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010.Related Products:

The uninsured rate for nonelderly Latinos decreased from 32.7 percent to 18.0 percent, from 2010 to 2022, however, Latinos are more than twice as likely to be uninsured as non-Latino Whites.Related Products:

Recent legislative and administrative policy initiatives have built on the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) expansion of health insurance coverage and improvements in access to and utilization of health care services.

Since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s coverage provisions, the uninsured rate among nonelderly Black Americans decreased by 10 percentage points, from 20.9 percent in 2010 to 10.8 percent in 2022.Related Products:

Newly released data from the National Health Interview Survey indicates no statistically significant change in the uninsured rate from the previous three quarters of 2023 and a continued steady decline in uninsurance since 2020.Related Products: