The share of Americans under 65 without health insurance declined each year between 2010, when the Affordable Care Act was enacted, and 2016, when President Barack Obama left. Although the U.S. uninsured rate among Americans under 65 has increased over the years since, it remains well below reported figures of 17% and above in the years leading up to the ACA. .
Without a universal health care program, most Americans under 65 – the age of Medicare eligibility – have employer-sponsored health insurance coverage. Under this system, 10.8% of Americans under 65, or roughly 29 million people, had no health insurance in 2019 – and that was before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. puts more than 22 million Americans out of work.
While most of those jobs have since been reinstated, the official uninsured rate for Americans under 65 for 2020 is likely to be higher than the rate for 2019.
In Georgia, an estimated 1,383,392 residents do not have health insurance coverage, or 15.5% of the non-institutionalized population under 65, the fourth highest uninsured rate among states .
Statewide, 58.1% of the population under 65 have employer-based insurance, compared to 60.0% of the same age group nationally. Another 17.5% of the population under 65 in the state is insured by Medicaid, and 9.2% have purchased their own insurance directly – compared to national rates of 21.0% and 9, 7%, respectively.
Rankings in this story are based on one-year estimates of the percentage of Americans under 65 without health insurance from the 2019 American Community Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau.
| Rank | State | Pop. under 65 without insurance | Pop. under 65 with employer insurance | Pop. under 65 with insurance taken out directly | Pop. under 65 with Medicaid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | Massachusetts | 3.5% | 68.1% | 10.2% | 23.0% |
| 49 | Rhode Island | 4.8% | 66.8% | 11.7% | 21.6% |
| 48 | Hawaii | 5.0% | 66.9% | 9.9% | 19.5% |
| 47 | Vermont | 5.6% | 60.6% | 10.3% | 25.8% |
| 46 | Minnesota | 5.8% | 69.8% | 8.4% | 18.9% |
| 45 | Iowa | 6.0% | 67.6% | 8.5% | 21.3% |
| 44 | new York | 6.1% | 60.2% | 10.8% | 26.9% |
| 43 | Wisconsin | 6.8% | 69.5% | 8.8% | 17.6% |
| 41 – tied | Maryland | 6.9% | 65.6% | 9.3% | 19.6% |
| 41 – tied | Michigan | 6.9% | 63.7% | 8.9% | 23.8% |
| 39 – tied | Pennsylvania | 7.0% | 65.1% | 9.2% | 22.0% |
| 39 – tied | Connecticut | 7.0% | 64.2% | 8.5% | 23.2% |
| 38 | New Hampshire | 7.6% | 68.8% | 9.1% | 14.6% |
| 36 – tied | Kentucky | 7.7% | 57.1% | 7.3% | 28.3% |
| 36 – tied | Washington | 7.7% | 63.7% | 8.3% | 21.4% |
| 35 | Ohio | 7.8% | 64.4% | 7.3% | 22.2% |
| 33 – tied | North Dakota | 8.1% | 68.3% | 13.6% | 12.4% |
| 33 – tied | Delaware | 8.1% | 63.6% | 8.3% | 23.0% |
| 32 | West Virginia | 8.3% | 57.4% | 5.7% | 30.0% |
| 30 – tied | Oregon | 8.6% | 61.4% | 9.4% | 23.0% |
| 30 – tied | Illinois | 8.6% | 64.9% | 8.3% | 19.7% |
| 29 | California | 8.9% | 56.9% | 10.4% | 26.4% |
| 28 | New Jersey | 9.2% | 66.4% | 8.7% | 17.4% |
| 26 – tied | Virginia | 9.3% | 64.4% | 9.3% | 14.5% |
| 26 – tied | Colorado | 9.3% | 62.4% | 10.5% | 18.1% |
| 25 | Nebraska | 9.8% | 67.2% | 12.1% | 13.4% |
| 24 | Maine | 10.1% | 61.4% | 10.5% | 20.2% |
| 23 | Montana | 10.2% | 55.0% | 13.6% | 23.6% |
| 22 | Indiana | 10.3% | 64.4% | 7.8% | 19.1% |
| 21 | Louisiana | 10.5% | 50.9% | 8.4% | 31.6% |
| 20 | Utah | 10.8% | 68.8% | 12.5% | 9.8% |
| 18 – tied | Kansas | 10.9% | 66.4% | 10.1% | 14.3% |
| 18 – tied | Arkansas | 10.9% | 51.4% | 9.1% | 29.1% |
| 17 | Alabama | 11.7% | 58.2% | 9.7% | 20.8% |
| 15 – tied | New Mexico | 12.0% | 46.1% | 7.6% | 37.0% |
| 15 – tied | Missouri | 12.0% | 63.3% | 9.3% | 15.6% |
| 14 | Tennessee | 12.1% | 58.4% | 9.6% | 21.0% |
| 13 | South Dakota | 12.2% | 61.8% | 12.8% | 14.2% |
| 12 | Idaho | 12.8% | 58.7% | 12.9% | 17.3% |
| 11 | Caroline from the south | 13.2% | 57.0% | 10.1% | 20.2% |
| 9 – tied | North Carolina | 13.4% | 56.7% | 10.7% | 19.2% |
| 9 – tied | Nevada | 13.4% | 59.4% | 8.7% | 18.9% |
| 8 | Arizona | 13.6% | 56.2% | 8.5% | 22.8% |
| 7 | Alaska | 13.9% | 55.0% | 6.4% | 22.8% |
| 6 | Wyoming | 14.8% | 62.6% | 10.8% | 12.3% |
| 5 | Mississippi | 15.4% | 50.9% | 8.6% | 25.1% |
| 4 | Georgia | 15.5% | 58.1% | 9.2% | 17.5% |
| 3 | Florida | 16.3% | 51.4% | 14.2% | 18.1% |
| 2 | Oklahoma | 16.8% | 54.8% | 9.3% | 18.7% |
| 1 | Texas | 20.8% | 54.8% | 8.6% | 16.2% |
By: Samuel Stebbins, 24/7 Wall Street via The Center Square
